


Nova

by RinRin24



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Civil War AU, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Technology, Violence, army squad AU, estabilished Iwaoi, estabilished bokuaka, unbeta'd: we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-13 07:46:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21490828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RinRin24/pseuds/RinRin24
Summary: Kenma made up Nova for his own selfish reasons. But as the imperial family was assasinated and Japan is thrown into a civil war between the Republic and the Imperials, he has no choice but to follow the orders he was given. It shouldn't have been their war to fight. But as him, Akaashi and Tsukishima develop the program further, and all their friends and loved ones enter the military to protect them, they have no other choice than to step up and fight.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kageyama Tobio/Tsukishima Kei, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 21
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I quit writing fanfiction for a while, so I don't know how this will end up. I'm looking for my love for writing, so I started this. I hope you'll like it.  
The narration is mainly in third person close to specific characters, so the main lines are focused on Kenma, Kuroo, Akaashi, Tsukishima and sometimes Oikawa. 
> 
> I also know nothing about how the military works and technology, so everything is probably inaccurate as I make up everything. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the story! Please, leave a comment affter yourself!
> 
> Now on Wattpad [here!](https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/217313190-nova)

“And then Kenma pulled up the picture and it appeared in a hologram all over the room and he just started clicking thing in the air and it was bamm and swoop and blash as he pushed things around! And Akaashi-san just watched while occasionally corrected some numbers and I was like whoooaah, because I couldn’t understand anything, let alone correct it!” Hinata has been in the changing room for twenty minutes now, yet he was still in full uniform. He was way too preoccupied with talking to change. Kuro smirked as he put on his bulletproof vest. Hinata was one of the personal guards, who were let into the lab where the Nova was developed. Most people thought it was a mistake to let him in, because he talked too much about the program, but Kuroo knew better. Hinata couldn’t understand anything about the program, so he wouldn’t be able to give out information to the west. However, he would be able to protect the three and would give his life for them without hesitation. 

“So they pulled a whole Tony Stark thing on me! And it’s still so amazing as it was the first time!” he continued, jumping around in the bulletproof west. 

“Shrimpy-chan, don’t you have to go home?” Oikawa asked, but couldn’t hide the amusement in his voice. He put the earpiece in then buckled the gun holders onto his belt. Hinata glanced at the clock on the wall, before he shrieked. 

“Aish, mom’s going to kill me!” he said before he started undressing. Oikawa snorted, before he put his guns away. 

“When mom is scarier than being a first responder,” he commented. He leaned against the locker and looked at Kuroo expectantly. They were to switch out Bokuto and Iwaizumi in five minutes. Kuroo buckled on his gun holder than looked at the guns. 

“Who’s the first responder tonight?” he asked as he put them away. He fit his earpiece in and turned back to Oikawa. Hinata looked up from his shirt. 

“Kageyama. Since he and Tsukishima live close, the higher ups decided to put him on guard, so he can take Tsukishima home after,” he answered and pulled his shirt over his head. Kuroo nodded. The first responder was a lone guard in the room with the developers. They were a small team within their division; they were the quickest members of the squad, but also the ones who were the least likely to understand anything from the program. Kuroo and Oikawa often teased Sawamura that three of the five first responders were from Karasuno. But then he would respond that the other two were from Nekoma, and Kuroo would shut up. And then there was Bokuto who was still sulking he wasn’t put as a first responder, because he would constantly distract Akaashi from his job. 

“I’ll never understand their work hours. Who the fuck works from two PM to two AM voluntarily?” Oikawa asked and pushed himself off the locker when he saw that Kuroo was ready to go. They grabbed the machine guns and stepped out.

“Kenma. And then there’s Tsukishima who’s crazy enough to go along with Kenma’s work hours,” Kuroo laughed as they left the room. He wasn’t surprised when the work hours were brought up. Kenma had always been a night owl, he always worked the best after seven PM to the early morning. What shocked him was that Tsukishima was okay with going along to Kenma’s crazy working regime. Akaashi however left at eight PM, so Bokuto would always bring him home after. The guards had six hour shifts, but there was more than enough of them to handle it. 

Oikawa shook his head.  
“Weirdos,” he said as they stepped into the elevator that took them to the vault way under the basement level. It was only accessible to their team and the three developers. Not even the heads of the military were allowed down there as Sawamura was given full authority over the team. He went into the military right after graduation, so the Prime Minister gave him the command. The others had no complaint about that. Sawamura was a good leader and tolerated their antics as long as it didn’t endanger their mission.  
The elevator doors opened and they stepped out. Bokuto grinned widely when he saw them. 

“Hey, hey, hey!” he shouted and Kuroo grinned back at him. Iwaizumi only clicked his tongue. 

“The night shift is here!” Kuroo said and held his hand up for a high five. Bokuto didn’t leave him hanging. The vault door clicked before Akaashi pushed it open. He was wearing a white coat that hid his frame as he climbed out. Bokuto reached out to steady him before pulling him closer. Kuroo sneaked a glance into the room. He could only see the back of Kenma’s head as the younger stared at a holograph. He pulled his legs up to his chest, the white coat he hated so much was on the floor. Kuroo smiled before he nodded to Kageyama who closed the vault door once again. 

“Let me guess, nothing happened,” Kuroo grinned, which caused Bokuto to laugh loudly and Akaashi to roll his eyes. 

“When does anything happen? This place is a freaking fortress, it’s impossible to get down here,” Bokuto explained as he put his machinegun onto his shoulder. Iwaizumi ducked his head so the barrel of Bokuto’s gun wouldn’t slam into his forehead. 

“Let’s just be happy and hope it stays that way,” Akaashi muttered, still holding onto Bokuto’s hand. Bokuto grinned and waved their hands back and forth. They have been together since Akaashi graduated high school, and even if it has been three years ago, Bokuto still acted like this was their honeymoon phase. 

“As long as I’m here, nothing will ever happen!” Bokuto exclaimed. His eyes shone with confidence. Akaashi gave him a fond smile, while Kuroo snickered. 

“Sure, because your screaming would suppress even if they blew up the whole vault,” he said. Bokuto gasped before he started to protest, but he slurred the words so much, Kuroo could barely understand him. So he just kept up his mocking grin, knowing it pissed Bokuto off more than anything. 

“Iwa-chan, I left dinner for you in fridge,” Oikawa said as he switched places with his boyfriend. 

“You better,” Iwaizumi grunted. He hesitated a moment, before he gave Oikawa a quick kiss. “See you in the morning, Shittykawa,” he said before he turned around and walked towards the elevator. 

“Bye, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa shouted after him cheerfully. 

“Have a calm night, guys,” Akaashi nodded to them softly, and pulled Bokuto away from them. Bokuto was still talking, and Kuroo just wiggled his eyebrows at him.

“Just wait for it, Kuroo! I’ll show you…” but before Bokuto could’ve finished his sentence, the elevator closed on them. Kuroo reached up and tapped his earpiece twice. 

“The Great King and the Demon Ruffian are in position. I repeat, the Great King and the Demon Ruffian are in position,” he said loud and clear. The static went off, before he heard the answer. 

“Copy that. Mama Crown and Mama Cat are also in position. I repeat, Mama Crow and Mama Cat are in position.” Sugawara’s voice sounded oddly cheerful for someone who was starting the nightshift. Him and Yaku were watching the monitors, so they had an eight hour shift, unlike the rest of them.

“Copy that.” This was Kageyama. ”The Owl Keeper left the den. I repeat, the Owl Keeper left the den.” 

This time Oikawa tapped his ear twice.  
“The Horned Owl has the Owl Keeper. They left the forest. I repeat, the Horned Owl and the Owl Keeper left the forest,” he said. 

“I see them. They passed the Nervous Giant and the Ice Queen. I repeat, the Horned Owl and the Owl Keeper passed the Nervous Giant and the Ice Queen,” Yaku said. 

“Copy that. Over.” he said. He let his hand fall down before he grabbed his gun with both hands once again. Oikawa copied his moves as they stood attention, ready to move at any moment. The brunette gave him a smirk as he looked at him from the corner of his eyes. 

“Well, Kuro-chan, are you ready for another six hours of just standing in one place?” he asked. Kuroo let out a sigh and snorted. 

“As Akaashi said, we should be happy it’s peaceful. But one can’t help but wish something would finally happen,” he laughed softly, and Oikawa nodded his head. They’ve been doing this for over a year. And even though they paid them well, standing in one place for six hours all the time got quite boring after a while. “Though, it would be even better if the whole war would just end.” 

“I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon. The Rep would have to let some of their most radical wishes go, and the prime minister would have to make changes in the old ways to satisfy everyone,” Oikawa answered. He was about to go pro with Bokuto on his side when the war started. They volunteered, since in these moments, professional athletes weren’t needed, but soldiers were. But Oikawa actually studied to be a history and social studies teacher at the university besides playing volleyball. 

“One can always hope,” Kuroo answered with a smile. The static went off in their ears once again. 

“Horned Owl and the Owl Keeper are leaving the building. I repeat, the Horned Owl and the Owl Keeper are leaving the building,” Suga said. This time, neither Oikawa nor Kuroo reached for their ears, as Kageyama took the call. 

“Copy that. K.K. is leaving Owl Keeper’s first response to Horned Owl.” he answered. Oikawa snickered and Kuroo snorted. Kageyama refused to use his codename. They all knew it would come down to this when Oikawa came up with his codename, but it still amused them to no end. 

“Copy that, Kawaii Kouhai!” Bokuto’s slurred shout could be heard through the earpiece, and they couldn’t help but laugh. They could almost see Kageyama’s face scrunch up in distaste. 

“Well then, let’s start the night,” Oikawa said.

*********

Kenma stepped out of the vault and immediately thrusted his white coat into Kuroo’s outstretched hand. He hated that coat. He didn’t understand why they needed it, he thought it was absolutely unnecessary. Tanaka and Ennoshita were already there to switch Kuroo and Oikawa out, so he didn’t think twice before letting Kuroo hold it for him.  
“Good work today,” Ennoshita smiled at them kindly as Kageyama shut off the lamps inside, cutting off the electricity in the vault. Tsukishima stretched beside them and Kageyama locked the door. Then he turned around and bowed slightly.

“Good work today,” he repeated softly. Tanaka and Ennoshita took their places beside the door, and Kuroo tapped his earpiece twice. Kenma has seen the movement a million times before, and now he wasn’t even surprised when it turned around that everyone around him had some kind of comm. unit. 

“Demon Ruffian got the Lazy Cat. Salty Saurus stays with Kawaii Kouhai. I repeat. Demon Ruffian got the Lazy Cat. Salty Saurus stays with Kawaii Kouhai.” he said clearly, and even though Kenma couldn’t hear anything, he guessed he got some answer, because he let his hand fall onto Kenma’s shoulder as he guided him to the elevator. 

“Have a nice night, guys!” he waved back at Tanaka and Ennoshita, who smiled back at him. Then Tanaka reached to his ear. 

“Crazy Bulldog and Diplomatic Normie are in position! I repeat…,” Kageyama and Oikawa were the last ones to enter the elevator and they immediately turned towards the door. Kageyama had a pistol in his hand, while Oikawa was still holding the machine gun. Tsukishima sighed but didn’t complain anymore. He got bored of that after a month in the beginning. Kenma simply couldn’t care enough. Kuroo was next to him, always within an arm’s reach, so he was okay. It was always like this. He felt comfortable in this situation. He played with the hem of his hoodie, just so he could occupy his hands. They weren’t allowed to have their phones or any electronical device in the vault, so he couldn’t even play as they waited in the elevator. 

The elevator came to halt and the metal doors slid apart. Oikawa was the first one to step out. He looked around, before he nodded and walked forward. Kageyama grabbed Tsukishima’s arm so he would be at his left, right between the wall and Kageyama.

“Don’t pull me, King,” Tsukishima grumbled but didn’t protest more. Kuroo snickered but didn’t comment, just walked next to Kenma until they reached the door. Asahi gave them a weak smile from where he stood, and Shimizu just nodded her head before she opened the door for them using the magnetic card. 

“Thanks, guys,” Oikawa said cheerfully as he walked past them. The corridor led them to the changing room. Oikawa pulled another magnetic card from the pocket of his vest and pressed it to the bare wall. It seemed like a stupid movement as he just slammed it there, but then the tiles pulled aside to reveal a locker full of guns. He secured and locked his machine gun and then put it into its place. Then he reached toward Kuroo. “Gimme, I’ll put it in,” he said and after he locked it, Kuroo thrusted it into his hands.

“Thanks.”

Kageyama put his leg onto the bench just to pull out a knife he hid there. Tsukishima took off his coat and opened his locker, while Kenma went to his own and threw it open. He pulled his magnetic card off, then threw his white coat in and reached in. He pulled out his DS: He let out a relieved sigh as it buzzed to life in his hands, letting his card fall onto the bench.  
Kuroo took off his bulletproof vest and placed it on the bench next to Kenma while he opened his locker.  
“Yachi finished the new schedules, have you heard it?” Kageyama asked. Kenma didn’t even look up. He stuck to his own schedule, nobody dictated it to him. 

“Yeah, we’ll pick it up tomorrow before our shift,” Kuroo answered and put his guns down. He changed into another shirt before he buckled on the holder once again. He pulled on a long coat, that covered them up. Kageyama was dressed similarly. Kuroo glanced at his best friend. “Kenma, put on your coat,” he called out. Kenma hummed softly, but didn’t move an inch. 

“Iwa-chan said, Yachi needed to regroup us, so our shifts changed,” Oikawa said. This was enough for Kenma and Tsukishima to look up. 

“How come?” Tsukishima asked. Oikawa shrugged. 

“I don’t know. Kuro-chan and Bo-chan probably will stay in their shift, but the rest of us may change,” he said and pulled his shirt over his head. He shook his head to get his hair out of his face, before he looked at them once again. 

“And the first responders?” They turned to Kageyama. He looked back at them with wide, innocent eyes. Even at 19 years of age, he still had a baby face, and the innocence in his eyes that no soldier who was put first responder should have. But all of the first responders were like that. Sometimes, Kuroo couldn’t believe those five were the quickest fighters in their team. Hinata, Kageyama, Nishinoya, Lev and Inuoka would best them all in speed. 

Oikawa shrugged once again. 

“I don’t know. But I don’t think they would bother you much, Tobio-chan.”

“Maybe they would finally put a more competent guard on me,” Tsukishima noted with a sly smirk. Kageyama’s head whipped in his direction with a childish pout, but before he would say anything, he just turned away. He buckled on his gun holder and put away his pistols. Tsukishima’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but when Kageyama eventually answered, Tsukishima smiled. 

“Maybe. But I’m still the one here with the gun, and I’m the one who takes you home through the dark alleys with just the two of us being there.” and he let out a psychopathic smile. Kuroo and Oikawa laughed out loud. They all knew that was Kageyama’s nice, calming smile, so they didn’t take him seriously. Tsukishima also just shook his head. 

“Whatever you say, King.” 

“Kuro,” Kenma’s quiet voice pulled Kuroo’s attention away. He had put on his coat, and was looking up at him with his cat-like golden eyes. The game was paused in his hands. 

“You ready?” Kuroo asked. Kenma nodded softly and stood up. Kuroo closed his own locker before he showed Kenma’s magnetic card into his pocket. He knew Kenma would lose it at the first opportunity, so his card was always with his first responder. Tsukishima closed his bag, and Kageyama put his knife back into his shoe. Oikawa pulled the zipper up on his coat before he nodded to Kageyama. The youngest patted his comm. unit twice, to connect with the base once again. 

“K.K. is leaving the Lazy Cat’s first response to Demon Ruffian. Lazy Cat and Salty Saurus are leaving the building. I repeat, K.K. is leaving Lazy Cat’s first response to Demon Ruffian. Lazy Cat and Salty Saurus are leaving the building.” he said, before he opened the locker room’s door and stepped out. Tsukishima followed right after him, then Kuroo, Kenma and Oikawa at the end. He closed the door.


	2. Chapter 2

The phone was ringing. Kenma knew it was his, but he just didn't have the willpower to open his eyes. He honestly couldn't think of a single reason he should pick up the phone. Then he felt Kuroo moving by his side so he reached out and lifted it up. He lifted his head and looked at the screen. His eyebrows rose as he read the name. He took the call.  
"Prime Minister, how can I help you?" he asked in a soft voice and looked at Kuroo beside him. He was laying on his back, looking at Kenma with curious eyes. They went to bed six hours ago, but Kuroo seemed much more awake than Kenma felt.

"Kozume-kun, I hope it's a good time to talk," the man's voice on the other end of the line was deep, but soft. He was well-spoken, and Kenma felt shivers run down his spine whenever he said something. He wasn't afraid, but the man unnerved him to no end, even through the phone.

" It's a good time, sir," he said. Kuroo pulled the cover a little higher on Kenma's back. He knew the more of Kenma was covered by something, the calmer he felt. He even scouted closer to him.

"Fantastic. I wanted to ask you about the Nova's test run. When are you doing it?" he asked. Kenma rolled onto his side and leaned into Kuroo. Kuroo threw his arms around him and started caressing his arm in a steady rhythm. Kenma could feel Kuroo's breathing on his nape and mimicked its rhythm.

"We're running it next week," he answered. He didn't give him a straight answer. The only people who knew everything about the Nova was Akaashi, Tsukishima and him.

"Alright," the prime minister accepted his answer without hesitation. They agreed in the beginning that the less people knew about it, the better. And if it meant that he only knew about the bigger picture and not the details, he was fine with that. "But do you think you guys would have it ready to work soon?"

Kenma raised his eyebrows. His free hand clutched onto the duvet.  
"Is there something wrong, sir?" He rolled the fabric between his fingers as he tried to focus on Kuroo's breathing behind him.

The prime minister sighed.  
"Not sure, but we've sensed a lot of movements near the border. We don't know if this is just a strength demonstration, a fake to make us panic or a real preparation to attack. We are doing our best to get the info, but Nova would make it much easier," he said. Kenma held his breath, and Kuroo held him even tighter. He knew Kuroo could hear every single word the minister said. Kenma rubbed the duvet harder.

"We'll see soon, sir. We'll do our best."

"Alright, thank you, Kozume-kun. Please, call me immediately once the test has been run," he said. And even though Kenma knew the man couldn't see him, he nodded his head.

"Naturally, sir."

"Thank you. Good day, Kozume-kun," and he cut the line. Kenma let out a long breath and sagged against Kuroo. Kuroo ran his fingers through his hair, so Kenma turned his head to look at him. Kuroo's greyish hazel eyes watched him seriously, looking for any sign of panic or anxiety. When he didn't see anything out of ordinary, he spoke up.

"What now?" he asked. Kenma shook his head.

"I don't know. I'll talk to Akaashi and Tsukishima once we're in. But if he's right, we need the Nova up and running as soon as possible," he sighed, pulling the covers even higher so only his nose was out. Kuroo pushed himself up onto his elbow and looked down onto his best friend. Kenma climbed into his bed last night, but at this point, that was completely normal for them.

They moved in together once Kenma started university. They rented a small, two bedroom apartment together, and stayed right there once the war started. But when Kenma got hired to develop Nova, Kuroo got kind of paranoid and made Kenma sleep in his bed until he finished the army training and he felt sure enough in himself to protect him even while leaving him some personal space. But the more Kenma spent being protected by armed friends all the time, the more nervous he became to be alone. So at this point they were sleeping next to each other all the time.

"And how are you guys doing? Honestly," Kuroo looked deep into Kenma's eyes. He knew well enough that Kenma wasn't allowed to talk about Nova, but he also knew that Kenma tended to beat himself up and keep the problems to himself until he had a meltdown.

Kenma turned his eyes to Kuroo's neck just he wouldn't need to look him in the eyes as he answered.  
"Well, we should be okay. Yesterday we managed to break into Akaashi's phone after he went home and got it offline. So it's working. The only question is whether it will work on a larger scale too," he said. He never thought Nova would be used like this.

He originally wanted to develop this program after he lost his PSP. It was supposed to find anything that has ever been connected to the internet, even if it wasn't currently online. Nova wasn't looking for the connection on the devices, it was looking for the ability to connect. Just like how a smartphone would find Wi-Fi, Nova would find the device. And it would automatically unlock it so it could connect. Kenma originally needed this function so he could break into his own lost PSP so he could save his data through the connection. The only thing he needed for that was the goal-device to be turned on.  
So he brought it up to one of his programming teachers, who seemed amused by the idea at first, but then told him to try to come up with how it could be set up. That was a year after the emperor was assassinated and the time the civil war started to become really violent. Most people, who could allow it, left the larger cities and moved to the country side. The school's closed as they moved the children out and most people who were older than seventeen took their places in the army of their chosen side. So the professor asked whether Kenma would be okay with working for the army and use Nova for military purposes. All he needed to do was make Nova big enough to cover all of Japan and updated to be smart enough to decode a military computer as if it was his DS. 

And Kenma took up the offer.

He didn't care for the war. He took up the offer because it paid well, he could do what he was good at, and because he knew that sooner or later they all would have to take part in it, whether they wanted to or not. And now here he was. Cuddled into his best friend's side, hoping no one will shoot them while walking to work.

Kuroo smiled and rubbed Kenma's shoulder over the covers.  
"Then it's going to be okay," he said. And even though the duvet covered up Kenma's mouth, he could tell he was smiling. He patted his head gently before he sat up. "Sleep back, I'll make some food. I'll wake you once it's done."

Kenma only hummed in response, and immediately closed his eyes. Kuroo watched him for a moment with a gently smile. He had the urge to lean down and press a kiss to Kenma's head. His hair was still like a pudding, no matter how many times he dyed it, he never cared enough to retouch his roots before they grew out again. Kuroo turned away before he could give in to his wants.

He pushed the covers aside and got out of bed.

*********

Oikawa woke to the cold air suddenly hitting his bare skin. He yelped and turned onto his back so he could look up. Iwaizumi stood at the side of their bed with the cover in his hands.  
"Finally awake, Shittykawa," he said and Oikawa pouted.

"Why the hell are you waking me? Shouldn't you be working?" he asked and reached for the cover but Iwaizumi pulled it out of his reach. Oikawa reached forward once again but Iwaizumi stepped backwards. 

"It's ten minutes past one, I'm leaving to get Tsukishima right now. But Sawamura called and he wants everyone who doesn't have a shift to go in. They're holding the meeting at three," he said before he threw the covers onto the other end of the bed. Oikawa sat on the bed in only his pajama pants. His shoulders sagged forward, his hair flew in every direction. The pillow left red marks on his cheeks.  
Iwaizumi took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose. Oikawa was always adorable right after he woke up and Iwaizumi often had the urge to just coddle him up in the blankets and keep him home, safe and sound. But he wouldn't admit that to him even they pulled his teeth. The last thing he needed was Oikawa getting even more smug.  
"Be happy I woke you up now, so you can eat and shower. I could have just left you here, so Sawamura would call you right before you need to leave," he said.

Oikawa nodded slowly and looked around the room. He was still in a sleepy daze. Then he lifted his warm, brown eyes onto Iwaizumi and trusted his arms into the air.  
" Thanks, Iwa-chan," he murmured with a soft smile. Iwaizumi stepped to the bed and leaned down to give Oikawa a hug. Oikawa nuzzled his face into his neck and closed his eyes. Iwaizumi held him for a moment and caressed the warm skin of his back.

"Shittykawa, I need to go and pick up Tsukishima," he said but didn't make a move to pull away. He just nuzzled Oikawa's hair and took a deep breath. Oikawa's hair always smelled like almonds and Iwaizumi loved it.

"I know." Oikawa's voice was muffled by Iwaizumi's clothes.

"And you need to get ready."

"I know."

"We should move."

"I know."

Iwaizumi sighed and pressed a kiss to Oikawa's temple and pulled away. Oikawa's nose crunched up in distaste but he let him go without a fight.  
"Take care, Hajime," he said softly, before he pressed a quick kiss to Iwaizumi's lips. Iwaizumi straightened up and nodded.

"I will," he replied and after one last glance at his boyfriend, he left the room.  
Oikawa watched the door for a moment, before he got up. 

But even with Iwaizumi waking him on time, Oikawa was the last one to arrive at the meeting, so he immediately took his place beside Kuroo at the end of the table. Kuroo looked at him from the corner of his eyes but before he could say anything, Sawamura started the meeting.  
"If everyone is here, let's start," he said as he stood up. Sugawara sat on his right, while on his left, Yachi was turning on the computer. Kuroo leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He was wearing his street clothes, but Oikawa could see the gun on his belt. So he came with Kenma. Kuroo only had guns on him when he was with Kenma. 

"So, it turns out, the guys are doing the Nova test-run sometimes this week. The prime minister didn't give me any more information about this, so we don't know exactly when or how it's going to happen," Daichi started with his hands on the table. "But this isn't the real issue why I called you here today. He also asked as to why we keep some members of the squad out of the vault." His exclamation was followed by a lot of raised eyebrows. Oikawa leaned forward in his chair and put his arms on the table.

" What do you mean like that?" It was Yaku. Daichi sighed and looked at Suga for a second before he lifted his gaze to his team.

"He asked why we aren't putting Ushiwaka or Daishou down in the vault. A few months ago, when we agreed to have Futakuchi and Aone down there, we put off letting both Ushiwaka, Daishou or anyone from their teams down there. And since both Daishou and Ushiwaka are rather promising in higher up's eyes, they want answers," he explained and wasn't even surprised when a collective groan followed his sentence. Everyone started murmuring at the same time, and he didn't even try to quiet them down for a moment, just let them voice their opinions. Suga gave him an amused smile before he turned back to their squad. Yachi glanced back and forth between everyone and once her eyes started watering, Daichi eventually raised his hand.

This caused everyone to shut up.  
"I know you all have your opinions, but listen for a moment, will you?" The guys nodded, so he continued: "As you know, I usually don't make these decisions without your consent, but I also don't want you to decide based on old VOLLEYBALL experiences. I need you all to understand that we are in military in the middle of a freaking civil war, and not in a high-school sport club. Got it?" People nodded again, but Daichi could tell they would rather drink soy sauce in itself than to truly agree to this. But he didn't care, this was enough.

"Great. Now, I want two person to talk and really make the decision. In Ushiwaka's case it's you, Oikawa. So, if you would," he sat back down and every set of eyes locked onto Oikawa. And Oikawa just looked back at them. He didn't see this coming.

He blinked a few times, before he sighed. He put on his serious face and leaned back.  
"Way to put me on the spot, captain," he murmured and ran his fingers through his hair. "Look, you know that I'd rather walk on Legos than to work with Ushiwaka, but even I got to admit that he's a great soldier. I wouldn't even trust him with a paper, but it's also not my place to say his isn't trustworthy if the government and the army says otherwise. So if they want him down by the vault, and you also think he's fit for the job, I'm not going to protest, " he said, looking into Daichi's eyes. The man smiled softly and nodded his head. He knew how hard it was for Oikawa to be nice to Ushiwaka. The others didn't say a word. The whole room was in silence until Kageyama spoke up.

"Wow, that's real mature of you, Oikawa-san," he said with genuine surprise in his voice. Nishinoya, Tanaka and Suga started laughing immediately. Kageyama was much better with people than he was in his first year of high school, but he still couldn't read the mood or people, so he didn't even try to hide his shock. He really wore his heart on his sleeves.

Oikawa pouted as he looked at his kouhai.  
"Shut it, Tobio-chan!" he crossed his arms and turned back to Daichi, "But I refuse to be on the same shift as him!"

Sawamura nodded with a wide smile.  
"Don't worry, we wouldn't even dream of that," he said and looked at Yachi's computer. The girl kept on typing with the speed of a lightning, before she nodded to the captain.

Daichi looked up once again. This time his eyes locked on Kuroo.  
"And in Daishou's case, I want you to speak up, Kuroo," he said. His eyes flew to Yaku and Inuoka for a moment, but they were also looking at their ex-captain. Lev was on first response and Yamamoto was monitoring, but he knew that the whole Nekoma had things to say about this.

Kuroo immediately shook his head.  
"No," he said. "We're not letting Daishou down to the vault." Yaku and Inuoka nodded their heads in agreement. Daichi, however, raised his eyebrows.

"Why? He's a good soldier."

"I don't care,"Kuroo replied without hesitation." You don't know Daishou as well as we do, "he motioned towards Yaku and Inuoka," so you wouldn't know. But that man is the definition of a snake in the worst way possible and I would rather die than to work with him." he said.

"You don't need to work with him, but..." Daichi tried to talk, but Kuroo cut him off. Normally, Daichi would throw anybody off his team for that, but this squad was special. There is a reason he asked for their opinion, and there was a reason he asked Kuroo to speak.

" I don't care what the military or the government says. He has no place down there or even in this squad. You know that I would trust every single one of you with Kenma's life if it came down to that, but I wouldn't let Daishou even near him. Bo would also say the same about Akaashi if he was here. And you can ask anyone from Tokyo, I'm sure they'll also say the same," he slammed his hand onto the table. Then he took a deep breath before he continued, in a much softer voice, " You can say I'm immature for still hating his guts after high school, I don't give a shit. I'm not letting Kenma near him, or have him in charge of Kenma's safety."

Daichi studied Kuroo's face. He knew Kuroo could be kind of hard headed, but when it came down to their job, he would never fail the team and would never put himself or his feelings in front of their mission. But as he looked at him, he knew nothing he would say could change Kuroo's mind. He was just about to nod his head and accept the outcome when Suga spoke up.  
"Look, Kuroo, I get that you really don't like him. But it's not only Kenma in there. Tsukki is also there and we also would die for him. But right now we really need to think as an army squad, not as people who have known each other for years now," he said softly. Daichi watched his boyfriend as he spoke before he glanced back at Kuroo. His face was still stone cold, his arms crossed in front of him. They could already tell he wouldn't compromise. So instead of him, it was Yaku, who turned to him.

"Look, Suga-kun, we get it where you're coming from, but believe me, if you knew Daishou the way we do, you also wouldn't be comfortable with having him near Tsukishima," he said and next to him, Inuoka kept on nodding his head.

"That's right."

Suga didn't reply just looked at Daichi. Daichi was still watching the ex-Nekoma members before he straightened up. He squared his shoulder and closed his eyes.  
"Then it's decided, " he said. "Ushijima Wakatoshi gets the clearance to enter the vault level. Daishou Suguru does not."


	3. Chapter 3

"Akaashi, are you ready?" Kenma's voice blasted in the car. Akaashi's voice was connected to the speaker. He nodded and looked at Bokuto through the windows. He was sitting in the car while Bokuto walked circles around it. They parked right on Tokyo's outer border, a few meters away from the sign that signalled the end of the city. Monday, 9 PM, with just the two of them. 

"Yeah. I have Koutarou's phone in my hand. It's in flight mode and there 's no WiFi anywhere near our location," he answered and locked the phone. He then put the phone down onto the driver' s seat.

"Tsukishima, turn it on," Kenma's voice a little fainter as he leaned away from his phone, but then it was on full volume once again. "Nova's up and running in three, two, one."

Akaashi kept his eyes trained on Bokuto's phone, waiting for any sign that it was being hacked. He waited for the screen to shine up, a sound to go off, anything that could reveal the Nova. The seconds passed by on the call, but nobody spoke. Akaashi kept his eyes trained on the phone, Bokuto was stretching and doing breathing exercises outside, while Kenma and Tsukishima worked in the lab.

Then minutes later, Kenma eventually spoke up.  
"Akaashi, we need you to confirm a few things, so we'll know whether or not we got the right phone," he said softly. Akaashi took the phone into his hand and unlocked it.

"Okay, ask away," he said. Bokuto's background was a picture of them hugging on Akaashi's graduation day. Akaashi smiled every time he saw that picture

"So," Tsukishima took over the phone. "the last call Bokuto-san made was to his mother at 9:32 today," he said. Akaashi opened the call-list to check.

"Yes."

"The last message he sent was to Kuroo at 20:15, but Kuroo hasn't seen it yet. It's a cat meme," Akaashi didn't even need to check this, Bokuto laughed so hard at that meme for twenty minutes they had to pull over. He would have been more surprised if he hadn't sent it to Kuroo.

" That's true."

"Then one last question," Akaashi didn't like the way Tsukishima's voice sounded. He was up to something. "How much would you pay us to not tell Kuroo that you sleep in an owl onesie?"

"I'm hanging up," Akaashi replied without missing a beat. He could hear Tsukishima snickering, but Kenma's voice suppressed it as he protested and took back the phone.

"Wait a second. Just a minute to overview the results," he said. "So, it took five minutes for Nova to find the phone, and after that, it was one minute and twenty-three seconds for it to unlock every information on it. This was without manual control. The information was selected by us," he summarized in robotic voice. It was all just formality and Akaashi could hear the soft sound of typing in the background. He hummed softly so let them know he was listening.  
"Did you see anything in the phone? Was there anything that would reveal it?"

Akaashi scrolled through the phone, looking for any sign they left, but then shook his head.  
"No. I didn't see anything and still can't find a single thing," he answered. Kenma let out a relieved sigh on the other end of the line. Akaashi smiled. He could see Bokuto watching him curiously through the window, so he also gave him a smile. Bokuto's eyes shone up as he grinned back.

"Great. Is there anything you want to add?" Tsukishima asked.

"No, nothing."

"Alright then," Kenma's voice wasn't apathic like usually. He sounded rather happy. Akaashi could've sworn Kenma was smiling. "I declare the Nova test-run as a success."

"Then I see you tomorrow. Have a good night guys," Akaashi said and put Bokuto's phone down. He was just about to pull his own off the speaker when Kenma answered.

"You too. Bye, Akaashi," and he cut the call. Akaashi pulled his phone off the speaker and then waved to Bokuto that he could enter. Koutarou almost skipped to the door before he threw it open.

"How was it?" he asked as he sat into the car and locked the door after himself. He drummed his fingers on the wheel excitedly and looked at Akaashi like he was about to open his Christmas presents. Akaashi reached over and took Bokuto's hand into his.

"It was a success," he said, and even though Bokuto had no actual idea of what Nova was or how it worked, he cheered harder and louder than anyone on their team. Sure, Kenma actually sounding happy and smiling was like a shout in itself, but Bokuto being happy was a whole another level. Koutarou threw his arm around Akaashi, ignoring the stick shift digging into his stomach.

"I'm so happy for you, 'Kaash," he said, once again slurring his name like he did in high school.

"Thank you, Koutarou," he whispered softly before he pressed a kiss onto Bokuto' s biceps. Bokuto pressed a hard kiss onto his cheek before he pulled back and started the engine.

"Let's go home and celebrate!" he shouted and Akaashi smiled at him.

**********

"Kuro."

No response.

"Kuro."

Once again, no answer. Kenma was getting annoyed. He saw that Kuroo was annoyed immediately after he climbed out of the vault, so he was okay with leaving Kuroo alone. But this was getting too much for him. Kuroo was walking way faster than he usually did and he also took bigger steps. Kenma could only walk so fast while playing and his steps were way shorter than his best friend's. He also hasn't been in a gym or partaken in any kind of exercise since he left high school so he was starting to have serious issues with breathing normally.

He frowned and paused the game. Kuroo was meters ahead of him, not noticing that he was leaving Kenma behind.  
So Kenma just stopped.  
"Kuro!"

Kuro turned around. He didn't even find Kenma with his eyes immediately, he was completely taken back by how far he was behind. He closed the space between them with a few wide steps. Kenma almost frowned again. It was seriously unfair how tall people needed to walk less.  
"Why are you so behind? Tell me if you need me to slow down," Kuroo chided softly. Kenma gave him an unimpressed look. 

"I've been calling out to you for minutes." 

Kuroo closed his mouth. He was still thinking about Daishou and Ushijima, but he never thought he was so deep in his thoughts he would miss Kenma calling him. He never guessed his Kenma-sensor would fail him one day.  
"Sorry about that," he murmured. Kenma kept his gaze on him for a few minutes, before he turned back to his game. He started walking so he would be the one to dictate the pace. 

"I'm not mad. But you should pay attention if you're supposed to protect me," he said. He knew Kuroo was following him closely, matching his strides to Kenma's. "I can see that you're upset," he commented as they turned the corner and stopped by the door that lead to their building. Kuroo opened the door for him, so he wouldn't have to pause the game again. 

"Yeah, shit went down at work," Kuroo sighed before he locked the door after them. Kenma was moving on muscle memory, so he wasn't afraid the guy would walk onto anything. Kenma only hummed as an answer. Normally, people would think that was rude, but Kuroo knew better. Kenma not saying anything just humming meant that he was listening if Kuroo wanted to talk about it. "They want Daishou and Ushijima in the forest." 

This was enough for Kenma to look up for a second. They were standing in front of the elevator door, before it opened up.  
"And?" 

"They asked what I thought, and I told them. Daishou won't be let there, but it still irks me that Daichi was seriously thinking about it. I swear to god, if that sneak just goes near you guys..." he was just about to get heated again, for the nth time that day when Kenma spoke up. 

"But wasn't he going to be a guard?" 

Kuroo gawked.  
"I don't care! You can't seriously think I would trust him with you guys' safety! He can't be trusted, he would only..." Once again, Kenma cut in before he could finish his sentence. 

"But you're here to protect me, aren't you?" his PSP let out the typical sound that meant Kenma won the game. So he raised his golden eyes and looked into Kuroo's. His face and gaze was expressionless, even Kuroo couldn't tell what he meant by that question. But Kuroo would've sworn those golden eyes saw into his soul. He didn't keep many secrets from Kenma, but sometimes, when Kenma looked at him like that, he was sure Kenma knew all of them.

"Of course, I am, but still..." he stuttered. He didn't know why he was so unsure. He would seriously die for Kenma and would protect him until his last breath. And that was the only thing in this war he never once questioned.

"Then it's okay. I'm not afraid," and with that Kenma walked out of the elevator. Kuroo's heart skipped a beat before it sped up. He let out a low chuckle as he ran his fingers through his unruly hair. It was like Kenma was directly playing with him, while in reality, he was probably clueless about Kuroo's feelings.

Kuroo followed him out of the elevator. Kenma was already at their door, trying to fit the key into the lock. He was too lazy to take two steps to his right and switch on the light, so he was only fumbling around with the key. Kuroo didn't help him, he just wound his arms tightly around Kenma's shoulder and put his chin on his head.  
"Are you going to sleep with me today, too?"

Kenma finally found the lock with the key.  
"Do you want me to?"

"Yeah."

"Then I will."

Kuroo felt brave enough to press a kiss to Kenma's head before he pulled back as Kenma pushed the door open. They stepped inside and Kuroo locked the door as Kenma headed into his room. He put his stuff down there and put his PSP onto charger before he came out again.  
"Tomorrow Akaashi, Tsukishima and I have a meeting with the prime minister. Do you know, who's the first responder?" he asked, stepping into Kuroo's room next. He threw his phone onto the bed. Kuroo put his guns into the nightstand and turned to Kenma.

"I think it's Lev. But I don't know who goes with you, since Bo and Iwaizumi are in the forest," he said and sat down onto the bed. Kenma nodded lightly and took his own pajamas from Kuroo's bed.

"Then you're coming down with me to the car?" he asked softly while playing with the material between his fingers.

Kuroo smiled softly.  
"Yeah." Kenma smiled back.

"Okay. I'm going to shower. And you should answer Bokuto," he said before exiting the room. Kuroo furrowed his eyebrows before he reached for his phone. He didn't look at it after work, he was too occupied with cursing Daishou in his head. He really had a message from Bokuto. But Kenma couldn't know that as far as Kuroo could remember, he never gave his phone to him. He could hear the shower turning on as he opened the message. It was just another cat meme. He quickly sent back an owl one, so Bokuto wouldn't fuss about him ignoring him.  
Kenma joined him a few minutes later. He was wearing Kuroo's old volleyball Jersey with sweatpants. They both hung on his thin frame. Kuroo smiled to himself. The ends of his hair were still wet, leaving wet spots on the red fabric, his face was still slightly pink from the warmth. He looked warm and cozy as he climbed into the bed and snuggled into covers. 

"How did you know about Bokuto's message?" Kuroo asked softly, turning to the side, so he could see Kenma's reaction. Kenma looked back at him before he took his phone into his hands. Normal people wouldn't have had noticed the small smile that quirked Kenma's lips, but Kuroo immediately pinpointed it. 

Kenma hesitated for a moment, before he said.  
"Let's just say that... My little birdie learned to fly," he said with a mysterious light in his eyes. Kuroo's jaw hit the floor. 

"What?" He asked, but Kenma only shrugged as he opened a game on his phone. Kuroo climbed onto the bed and stopped over Kenma just to take his phone away. Kenma looked back at him, with a mischievous shadow of a smile on his lips. 

"It's done? The you-know-what is done?" he asked. Kenma nodded. Kuroo's smile grew. He completely forgot the bad things from the afternoon. "And it's working?" Kenma nodded once again, and this time he couldn't even suppress his smile. Kuroo was so excited about it, his eyes shone in a way Kenma hasn't seen it for the past year. 

"Kenma!" Kuroo bounced the bed a little. "Why didn't you tell me? This is awesome!" 

Kenma turned his eyes away.  
"Didn't think about it much," he said and reached out for his phone again. Kuroo gave it back it to him. 

"Seriously, Kenma! This is the biggest thing ever. Gosh, you're so amazing," and he just collapsed onto Kenma. He wrapped his arm around him and laid his whole weight onto the smaller boy. Kenma groaned and half-heartedly tried to push him away, but Kuroo only laughed and held him even tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was short, the next one is longer, I swear! 
> 
> Please, leave a comment after yourself! I accept good, back, constructive feedback, anything. :) Thank you for readimg!


	4. Chapter 4

Kuroo reached for the door of the car when it opened up from the inside, almost hitting him in the face.

"Morning!" Lev shouted as he leaned out. His hand was still on the handle, his torqoise eyes shone with excitement and way too much life for such an early hour. It being almost 10 AM meant it was only early for Kuroo, Kenma and Tsukishima who was sleeping on the seat beside the Russian. Just like for most people with normal sleeping schedule, for Lev, this was the most productive time of the day.

"Lev, you're loud," Kenma commented, not even looking up from his game. He was playing an easy game, where he needed to roll a slime like thing to the side and have it eat up everything in its way. It wasn't difficult and that was what he needed. It kept him relaxed even when he was sleep deprived.

"Sorry," Lev answered and got out of the car. He leaned his seat forward to let Kenma into the back. Kozume paused the game long enough to get seated.

"Who's with you?" Kuroo asked as he leaned into the car. Tsukishima was sleeping with his head right at the window. Akaashi sat on the back and nodded his head softly when their eyes met. He was dressed rather formally, which should have been the norm when people meet the prime minister. However, Kenma was still only wearing jeans and a hoodie under his coat. The biggest formality he did was that both his jeans and hoodie were black and ironed. Even Tsukishima seemed rather well dressed.

"Kageyama's the other first responder, he's in the back," Lev started and as Kenma sat down, Kuroo could also see the other boy. He was also in full guard clothes with the bulletproof vest and the comm unit in his ear. "Daichi-san is driving, and Suga-san is in the front with him," he said, motioning towards the darkened windows that separated the driver and the passengers.

Kuroo nodded.  
"Okay then," he said, before he hit Lev's shoulder. "Have fun. And don't embarrass us in front of the prime minister," he asked, knowing full well how Lev had the bad habit of saying what shouldn't be said. But considering Kenma's outfit, he didn't know what else they could hope for.

"Yes sir," Lev saluted playfully, before climbing into the car. He closed the door after a short wave. The darkened windows completely hid who sat inside. No one could see how Kenma leaned into Akaashi's side or how Lev kept on talking to Kageyama who was completely elsewhere in his mind. Daichi honked twice for Kuroo, before he turned the car around and they rode off.

Akaashi threw his arm around Kenma so they would be more comfortable in the closed space.  
"Are you going to do the presentation?" he asked softly. He knew Kenma, but he also knew that officially Kenma was the leader of their small team.

Kenma's nose crunched up in distaste as he continued rolling his slime on the PSP.  
"I'd rather not," his voice was barely a whisper. He made the slime jump to catch a fruit. After it chewed the fruit up, the slime started singing. Kenma looked up for a moment while the slime sang. "You and Tsukishima can explain it better than I can, anyway."

As the slime finished its song, Kenma turned back to the game and Akaashi just sighed.  
"Okay. Just be ready in case they want you," he said. Kenma let out a short hum, but that was it. And Akaashi was satisfied with it. 

The Prime Minister moved into an abandoned building in the middle of a living area. It was hard to find, because it was just any other building there. Not even the people who lived in those buildings knew what was going on in their neighbourhood. When Daichi stopped the car, even Kenma looked up from his game to look around. The building they worked in looked much more modern and government-building like than this one. Lev opened the door and pulled his seat forward so the others' could climb out.  
Kenma stepped out first and after he took in the neighbourhood, he just shrugged and started playing again. Akaashi followed right behind him, leaving the sleeping Tsukishima with Kageyama in the back.

Kageyama reached forward and patted Tsukishima's shoulder.  
"Tsukishima, wake up. We're here," he said. He continued patting his shoulder until Tsukishima swatted his hand away.

"The fuck, King? Leave me alone," he whispered back. His voice and frown spoke volumes of how annoyed he was. 

"We've arrived. And Kenma and Akaashi decided that you and Akaashi are doing the presentation," Kageyama answered in a calm tone. He learned not to take Tsukishima's brashness personally, especially in the morning. Tsukishima wasn't a morning person, and Kageyama learned not to rise to the bait unless Tsukishima slept at least ten hours. Then he was just mean and Kageyama was allowed to fight back by Sugawara's permission. 

This seemed to get to Tsukishima. He let out a long breath through his nose before he opened his eyes. He turned his head and rolled his shoulders to pop them before he turned towards Kageyama. Kageyama was still looking at him with wide eyes that gave him a forever curious look.  
"What?" Tsukishima asked. Kageyama only shook his head. 

"Let's go," he said and motioned at the door. He needed to be the last one getting out while Lev watched the door with the developers.  
Tsukishima clicked his tongue, but got out.  
"Geez." The others were only waiting for him. Suga, Daichi and Lev had one hand on their guns, ready to draw it any moment. They formed a half circle around Kenma and Akaashi. Tsukishima stepped to the others while Kageyama closed the door of the car. Tsukishima stretched as he looked around. "Does anyone have a chewing gum?" 

Sugawara smiled and reached into the pocket of his vest.  
"When do I not have somehing you guys need?" he asked and threw a pack to the blond one. Tsukishima nodded his head in gratitude, ignoring how Kageyama stood behind him. This closed the circle around the team. 

Daichi raised his eyebrows, then shook his head.  
"You know I should reprimand you for having gum where your gauze should be?" he asked, but Suga only shrugged and gave him a smile. 

"I also have the gauze!" he laughed. And even though one half of Daichi was screaming inside, he couldn't help but smile back. So he looked at the team before Suga managed to melt him even more. 

"Let's go in!" 

He walked in the front, while Kageyama and Suga walked on the sides with Lev following them from behind. If Daichi didn't knew better, he would have never known how many guards were watching them. It was a soft movement of a curtain, the leaves moving against the wind as the cameras turned. A sparkle of light coming from the roof.

They stopped in front of the door and Sawamura stepped to the box on the side. He took out a card from his belt and pressed it against the metal before he entered a code. Then the door let out a buzzing sound and Sugawara reached out and pushed it open. He entered first while Daichi took his place next to Kenma. Suga looked around before he nodded and went in. Then he stopped before they turned the corner as a man stopped in front of them. He was wearing identical outfit to them, except that his guns were drawn.  
"All of you are to enter?" he asked.

Sawamura nodded.  
"Yes sir. I'm Captain Sawamura, I lead the Guarding team of the Nova developers. I'm to be in the room because of my position, while Sugawara, Haiba and Kageyama are the first responders of the developers in the matter of safety of the developers," he answered without missing a beat. His voice was confident, but still respectful. He stood tall on the side.

The man didn't answer for a moment, and on instinct Kageyama stepped closer to Tsukishima and Lev took a stronger hold on his gun. But then the man nodded.  
"Fifth floor. The Minister is waiting for you," he said and nodded towards the elevator. Sawamura nodded back and Suga took off. The only sound other than their steps was Kenma's game. The whole building was silent, as if nobody was in the entire building. Nobody would've realised there was a smaller army inside.

"Alright," Daichi turned to his team after he pushed the button to call the elevator. "Suga, Kageyama, you go with the guys with the elevator. Haiba and I go on the stairs. We'll leave once you're in the elevator and the we'll meet up upstairs," he said and all three nodded. Tsukishima chewed his gum lazily, while Kenma was completely engrossed in rolling his slime as fat as possible. Akaashi kept on glancing into the game from time to time.

Once the elevator door closed, Daichi and Lev took off. They reached the fifth floor just in time for the door to open. Two guards were standing right next a door that led into the room. Daichi stepped to them while the team took up their formation once again. While he spoke to the guards, Akaashi elbowed Kenma into the side.  
"Put it away now, we're going in," he said. He saw how Kenma frowned, but then eventually stopped the game and put it into the pocket of his hoodie. The guard opened the door for them and they stepped inside.

The interior was completely changed. Instead of apartments, now the whole floor was turned into one big meeting room. The walls were painted white, the black table stood imposingly in the middle. The prime minister stood from his seat when they entered and stepped closer to them.  
"Welcome," he said and even though he was wearing a kind smile that was genuine, Kenma had shivers running down his spine. He hated being near people who held real power in their hands. In games, he was supposed to defeat them, now he wasn't even allowed to talk to them first.

"Good morning, sir," Akaashi bowed first, with Tsukishima following second. Kenma's head was already bowed as he tried to hide his face with his hair, but when Daichi 'accidentally' knocked him into the back, he also bowed respectfully. Then man looked at them with satisfaction in his grey eyes.

"It's good to see you all. Everyone else is waiting a level under us, they'll enter when you guys are ready to talk. Do you require a laptop or something?" he asked. Kenma looked around the room while Akaashi held the conversation. There were name tags on the table all around, with the chairs aligned to them perfectly. He instantly spotted their own as it was at the end of the table, right in front of the prime ministers. His seat was between Tsukishima and Akaashi, and he let out a soft breath of relief at that. He didn't want to sit next to a stranger.

"Is there something wrong, Kozume-kun?" Kenma looked at the prime minister and quickly shook his head.

"No, sir. Everything is fine."

The man nodded.  
"Great. Then are you ready?" he asked, and spared a quick look at Tsukishima, who put a small device on the table.

"Yes sir."

"Then let's call our other guests," the prime minister clapped his hands together once, which set everything into motion. One of the guards reached for his comm unit, while another one left the room. The minister walked back to his own seat while Kenma took off his coat and threw it onto his seat. He climbed into it, but then Akaashi slapped his knee.

"Sit normally," he said and Kenma put his feet back onto the ground. On his other side, Tsukishima snickered.

"You heard Mom," he said and didn't show any kind of remorse when Akaashi gave him a very dirty look. Daichi went around greeting people as they entered the room, but Suga, Kageyama and Lev stayed with them. Lev put his hands on the back of Kenma's chair and drummed his fingers and even though normally it would've annoyed the hell out of Kenma, this time he found it calming. With no game to focus on, with so many people around him, the only thing that grounded him was the others around him. Even if he couldn't share Lev's optimistic attitude.

Slowly all the seat filled up and more and more people were giving them looks. Some of them gave him a disapproving glares, probably because of his hoodie, while other just looked plain curious. Kenma kept on picking on the PSP in his pocket, and tried to ignore the glances Akaashi stole in his direction to see how he was.  
When even the last seat was taken, the prime minister stood up.

"Good morning, gentlemen! Today we have a lot to discuss, so I don't want to waste your precious time for much longer. First Captain Ueda will tell us about the recent events at the border and the activities the Republic is currently doing or is planning against us. After that, Kozume Kenma-san and his team will tell us more about a program they developed on my inquiry." Kenma cringed when he heard his name. He pulled his shoulders up and tried to make himself as small as possible. He had a hard time not reaching for his game, but all he could do was to pick the side of it and hold the fabric of his hoodie between his fingers. The warmth of Akaashi's hand on his knee was the only thing that kept him from running. He could also feel how Lev stepped closer to his seat.

"Ueda-san, if you would be so kind," the prime minister sat down, while simultaneously another man stood up from Kenma's right. He was in military uniform, his hair cut short with various medals hanging from his shoulder. The woman behind him walked around and put a stack of papers in front of everyone. Even Kenma got a copy.

"Thank you, sir," he had a nice baritone voice. "As you may know, lately there have been a lot of activities on the Republic's side of the border. According to our sources, they are about to put a military base there, but there isn't much more information about it yet. However we find it quite suspicious that they are doing it in such a flashy manner so we're keeping high alert in case this is just to distract us from something else, "he said. Most men read the papers as he talked, but Kenma didn't even touch his copy. There were dates, places and various activities listed there, but he didn't want to know about them. He already knew that war was just about to really start, he didn't need any more anxiety about it. He was more than happy to stay clueless in his isolated lab that kept him safe and sound with all his friends being near him all the time.

A man on the left raised his hand. The prime minister nodded in his direction.  
"Kimura-san?"

"My question would be about the terrorist attacks on the North. Currently the army is holding up well in that territory, but the attacks are getting more frequent. Do you have any information about those and how to stop them?" he asked, not taking off his eyes of Ueda-san. The man however didn't get flustered.

" Yes, actually. One of our men is currently undercover and is working on getting as much information of these guerrilla groups as possible. We have already started working in a plan to take out their base with raid."

With every said word Kenma's urge to run home and hide under a blanket with Kuroo and everything dear to him got stronger. He didn't want to know that. He didn't want to be here. But people were already looking at him weirdly, the last thing he needed was them to think he was childish for putting his hands on his ears to block out the sounds. He let go of his PSP to reach for Akaashi's hand before he spiralled into full blown panic. Akaashi didn't look at him, but immediately squeezed his hand back. Lev also slid his hand onto Kenma's shoulder for another grounding point.

The conversation kept on going on and on about other military strategies and terrorist and Kenma felt as of suddenly all the air left the room. He kept of doing breathing exercises while he clung onto Akaashi's hand, who didn't even flinch, no matter how strongly Kenma squeezed his fingers. Then Lev leaned to his ear.  
"Do you want me to call Kuroo-senpai to come here with a car?" His voice was barely a whisper so he wouldn't disturb the meeting. Kenma nodded his head. He needed Kuroo, he would keep everyone safe, no matter what.

Lev made his way to Daichi, then leaned down to his ear. His cat like eyes never left whoever was talking in that moment, and his lips barely moved as he spoke. Daichi also didn't look at him, the only sign that he was listening was that he nodded his head. He turned his head slightly to the side to whisper into Lev's ear, his was completely neutral the whole time. Lev gave Kenma a small smile when he straightened up before he walked to the door.

"Is everything alright, Captain Sawamura?" the Prime Minister's voice cut through the room, bringing the conversation to a halt. Everyone looked at them. Daichi, however, nodded his head, unfazed.

"Yes, sir. There was a misunderstanding on the base, Haiba is about to give them my orders. We apologise for the disturbance," he bowed his head slightly. For a moment, the prime minister eyes him suspiciously, but then he eventually nodded.

"Alright. But if the attention is already on that side of the table, I think it would be wise, if Kozume-san would hold his presentation next," Kenma shivered at the thought. He gave Akaashi's hand a squeeze and was about to stand up, but Tsukishima was faster. He straightened up to his full height and looked the prime minister in the eyes.

" Sir, as you may know, public speaking is not Kenma-san's strong suit, so if it's alright with you, I'd be the one doing the talking," he said. His poker face was perfect just like always, he looked plain bored. The prime minister just glared at him for moment, but Tsukishima wasn't fazed. He was just about to reach and put his hands into his pockets, but Suga pushed his seat forward so it knocked him in the back of his knees. It was a warning. And it worked.

The prime minister was the first to look away.  
"As you wish. Go on," he said. Kenma gave Tsukishima a grateful look, but the younger didn't even look into his eyes, only pushed a button on the small box his put on the table before the meeting.

"My name is Tsukishima Kei, I work with Kozume Kenma-san and Akaashi Keiji-san on a project named Nova. My job is to make sure every data is saved, backed up in different formats and that we keep deadlines and to keep the development on track," he started. The prime minister leaned forward and put his elbows on the table. Daichi gave his kouhai a proud look with a small smile on his face.

"Nova was a secret project we started working on a year ago, when the Prime Minister expressed interest in having it help out the military. Nova was the idea of Kenma-san, and even if the original idea was only for his own benefit, the Prime minister saw an opportunity in it," he tapped the box once again. The box shone up, a hologram appeared over the table. It was the same technology they used in the lab. It showed a small cat icon in one place and a DS way away from the cat.

"Nova is a program that's supposed to find everything that has the ability to connect to the internet. The original use for this would've been for Kenma-san to find his lost DS. But on a bigger scale it would be able to find other things. Laptops, computers, mobile phones. Anything that's smart enough for the Internet," he said. The Cat and the DS was connecter by a line that had Nova written over it. Then laptops and other gadgets appeared next to the DS.

One of the man watched him with raised eyebrow. He wasn't fascinated at all.  
"I'm sorry, but why is this important? Today everything is able to connect through the Internet," he said and a lot of other people nodded along. Kenma kept his gaze on the table. He didn't dare to look up.

Tsukishima let out a small huff of breath. Without even looking up, Kenma knew that he was smirking.  
" But as I said, Nova doesn't need the Internet. I looks for the ability to connect to it," he said, and motioned towards the woman in the corner. "Miss, you're writing the minutes on a laptop. It's not connected to the Internet right now, is it?" he asked. The woman was flustered and nodded.

"Yes, that's right. We don't connect them, so the data is safe," she answered in a soft tone.

Tsukishima's smirk grew into a full-fledged smile.  
"Well, it's not safe from Nova. Nova is to break into anything electronical, whether or not it is connected to the Internet. It finds the gadget, gets into it, and saves everything onto the head computer. It's also able to code and decode immediately after acquiring the information," he said. He reached up and swiped the hologram to the left. The cat and his DS vanished to give place to a box.

"This is a basic WiFi box I'm sure most of you have at home. Since Nova wouldn't be too productive if it needed cables, just like WiFi, it's wireless. The box you see here is what we use for Nova right now," he pointed at it. "Normally, it only ranges to an apartment or so. With this box, we were able to have Nova cover all of Tokyo," he said, and swiped left again. The map of Tokyo was familiar to everyone, except for the two red points on it.

"This point right here," he pointed at the one slightly to left from the middle, "is the lab we work in. This is where the box you saw a second ago is. And the other point is where my colleague Akaashi-san was with a random phone we borrowed from someone on staff. It was disconnected from the Internet and was put in flight mode. It took Nova five minutes to find the phone before having access to every data on it, " he said. He pushed the top of their small box again to turn it off. The holograms vanished. The he put his hands on the table.

"Nova bounces from gadget to gadget, the only reason we say it only covers Tokyo, because that's the only range we are sure about. We don't want it to fail when it's important. If we have better placement and a bigger box, we may be able to cover all of Japan and have Nova get to the Republic's computer and bring us every plan they have on their computers. It doesn't matter if it's connected to the Internet, it doesn't matter if it's coded. Nova can give it to us. Thank you for listening," and without waiting for any reaction he just sat back down. He looked at them from the side of his eyes. Kenma's lips pulled into a small smile, while Akaashi nodded his head in approval.

The earlier disapproval vanished from the prime minister's face and gave it's place to utter glee.  
"That's perfect," he said and clapped his hands together, and carried his gaze around the faces  
"Gentlemen, what do you think? I, personally, think Nova could help us a great deal and make the information gathering much faster," he said. Daichi nodded his head immediately.

Ueda-san looked at them. His face didn't show any emotion.  
"How fast would you be able to put together this thing big enough to cover the country? And how much manual control would it need?" he asked. For a moment, Tsukishima hesitated, then looked at Akaashi and Kenma.

Kenma took a deep breath and exhaled softly.  
"With all the things we need, we can do it in a week. It needs manual controlling if it needs to find a specific target and when it find a code it doesn't know. In that case, it would leave it the way it was and wait for the controller to decode it themselves, "he said. His voice was so soft, he wasn't sure whether everyone could hear him. He felt Lev's presence behind him, even though he didn't hear him come into the room.

When he heard the prime minister, he once again focused on his knees.  
"Well then, does anyone have questions?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment after yourself!


	5. Chapter 5

Kuroo was waiting outside by the time they stepped out of the building. He was leaning against the jeep he borrowed from the facility, but he stepped forward when he saw them. He pocketed his phone immediately.  
"What's up? I came after you called," he asked, but nobody answered him. Daichi was the only one in their small group who wasn't surprised by everything they heard that day. He signed up for this right after graduation. The others, however, were still shocked. Kenma wasn't even playing his game, he just looked at the pavement and walked straight into Kuroo's chest. He put his forehead against his shoulder and closed his eyes.

Kuroo knew Kenma was about to have a meltdown. Lev told him so in the phone. But as he looked at the others, he knew Kenma wasn't going to be the only one.

Sugawara originally was studying to be a kindergarten teacher. He signed up to the team because he wouldn't let anyone hurt whom he already considered as one of his baby crows. Tsukishima wanted to be a palaeontologist, while Lev wanted to study cats and become a worker at a Zoo. Akaashi wanted to be a teacher for kids with special needs. And even if they were in the field for a year now, the reality didn't down on them. Now it came crushing. 

Kuroo could feel how Kenma would hold his breath for a few seconds after inhaling. He was also ever so slightly trembling in his arms, and even if he couldn't see his best friend's face, he knew Kenma was only seconds away from falling apart. He hugged him closer, before he looked up.  
"Could any of you drive us home? Or is it too much right now?" he asked softly. He didn't know what they heard in there, but even he couldn't make a joke in a moment like that. 

To his luck, Suga smiled.  
"Yeah, I'll drive you. Then I'll take the car back to the base," he said, and the light came back into his eyes. Once he had something to do, he felt a slightly better. Kuroo smiled back at him and held out the keys. 

"Thanks," he muttered softly. Suga took the keys and walked around the car, while Kuroo opened the back of the jeep. He held his arm around Kenma while he climbed in, before he turned to wave to the others before following him close behind.  
Just like in the other car, there was a dark glass between the passangers and the driver, so once he closed the door, Kuroo turned to Kenma. Kenma sat sideways on the seats, facing Kuroo. His long hair covered his face, his fingers played with the material of his oversized hoodie. Kuroo took a deep breath.  
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. The car buzzed to life, but he ignored it. 

Kenma shook his head. The rise and fall of his chest was heavier with every breath. Kuroo's lips pulled into a sad, gentle smile.  
"Do you not want to talk or can't talk about it?" He didn't mean the secrecy of the information. And Kenma knew that. So his next inhale turned into a sob, his shoulder's fell forward as he tried to make himself as small as possible. His breathing was shallow and fast as he let go, trembling in his whole body.  
"Kenma... Ken... Kenma," Kuroo moved faster than ever and pulled Kenma into his arms. Kenma fisted his coat on his arms, as he desperately tried to catch his breath. 

"Kenma, breath with me," Kuroo said, but he wasn't sure Kenma could hear him over his breaths. His breaths were getting shallower the harder he tried. Kuroo put his hand on the back of Kenma's head and held it against his chest. "Breath with me," he said softer before he took a deep breath. Kenma tried to mimick it, but his breathing was still shaky. But Kuroo kept up the rhythm while slowly and gently he caressed Kenma's nape. It took them minutes to work through the attack, but eventually Kenma relaxed into Kuroo's arms. Kuroo pressed his lips against Kenma's hair as he spoke:  
"How are you feeling?" his voice was barely a whisper. If they weren't so close, Kenma would've missed it. 

"Bad." 

"Is there something you want to talk about? Or let's just stay like this?" he kept on caressing Kenma's nape, while he kept his hand on his back. 

"I don't know," Kenma snuggled closer to Kuroo, trying to bury himself in his warmth. "I wanna go home. But I also wanna leave the country. I just... don't want anything to do with anything." His words were getting slurred, and with every passing second he was leaning more and more into Kuroo. Kuroo took on his weight; he knew Kenma would get sleepy after the panic attack. 

"That's okay. I'm here to protect you, the guys and I will keep you safe," he whispered into his hair. The car was gently rocking them, and he kept on caressing him. "And in the end, everything is going to be alright. I promise."

*************

Tsukishima watched Akaashi get out of the car and immediately walk into Bokuto's arms. He clung onto his boyfriend so hard, Bokuto's usually clueless smile got even more confused. Without waiting for a goodbye, Daichi drove them off. Tsukishima sighed to himself as he continued to glare out the window.

It wasn't that he was jealous that people around him were in love even through all of this shit. Bokuto and Akaashi found love in high school, just like Sugawara and Daichi, who got engaged right before Daichi enlisted into the army. Even in stupid Kuroo's case it looked like Cupid would soon smile on him. And then there he was with a resting bitch face, salty as ever. And his problem wasn't with that, he was happy for them, truly. His problem was, that he saw how happy they were and felt the pressure to make sure Nova solved the whole freaking civil war, so his friends could be happy and lovey-dovey in peace. He glared at his reflection. Everything would be much easier if he wasn't such a sap. 

He should just go back in time to middle school and go to another high school. Then Sugawara wouldn't be able to bitch slap him with unconditional motherly love before Hinata ran him over with friendship. 

He sneaked a glance at Kageyama in the reflection. He was looking forward, even though he couldn't see anything through the tinted window. He looked so stupid in Tsukishima's eyes. His face was still as round as it was in their first year, and with his wide, blue eyes, he looked like such a baby. Not like a soldier who was almost twenty and ready to die any moment for his friends. And since he wasn't the brightest person Tsukishima has ever met, Tsukishima seriously doubted, Kageyama really understood their situation. Or maybe he did. One may never know, since he was great in serious situations, yet Tsukishima literally had to drag him and Hinata through their SAT exams. And even then, they barely avoided failing. He watched Kageyama for a moment before he shook his head slightly. At this point, he was sure that even as a soldier, Kageyama only had rhythmically bouncing volleyballs in his head.

"Kageyama," Daichi's voice shook Tsukishima out of his daze. "Will you take Tsukishima up to his apartment? Nishinoya's home, but he blew up their kitchen, so he can't come down for him," he said after he let the window between them roll down.

"Yes, of course," Kageyama nodded his head before he risked a look at Tsukishima. The blond had an unreadable look in his eyes, before he turned away.

The car stopped right before their apartment building. It didn't look like much; it was run down and not even in a good part of the town. What most people didn't realize was that Asahi was paranoid and Nishinoya a was good at hiding things, so the entire place was surrounded by hidden cameras, alarms and even some traps. Tsukishima pushed the door open and without even waiting for Kageyama, he walked to the building. On the second floor, two of the doors were open. The smoke was clearly coming from one of them, while Yamaguchi ran back and forth in-between. Tsukishima sighed. He really was surrounded by idiots.

Kageyama caught up with him as they walked up the stairs. Kageyama stood in front of him and looked into the smoking apartment before letting Tsukishima forward  
"I would ask what happened, but I don't really care," Tsukishima said with his hands in his pocket. Noya sat in the middle of the small kitchen, trying to stop the smoking of the oven. There was a completely black tray in the sink, water still flowing onto it. Tsukishima could already tell the foul odor was coming from that. Beside Noya sat their fire extinguisher, Tsukishima already knew Yamaguchi brought that over.

Noya looked up with a pout on his lips.  
"If you don't want to help then get lost!" he shouted and continued to fan the smoke away.

"Tsukki, don't be mean," Yamaguchi pushed him to the side. He was holding a bucket of cleaning supplies.

"Should I call Asahi-san?" Kageyama asked in an innocent tone, and even lifted his phone up. Nishinoya screeched like a banshee.

"Don't you dare! He will only panic!" Yamaguchi tried to calm him down, but Tsukishima couldn't care less. He turned on his heels and walked into the neighbouring apartment. He knew Kageyama followed him so he didn't immediately close the door. Since Yamaguchi left the door open while he ran to Nishinoya's apartment, Kageyama won't leave until he searched every single inch of the place. It was annoying, but Tsukishima couldn't do anything about it. So once Kageyama closed the door, he sat down onto the couch and put on his headphones. He had more than enough socialisation for that day. 

He let Kageyama take a look at every room in the house and was keen on ignoring him until he left, but it seemed the boy had a completely different idea. Kageyama stood in the middle of the living room, right across Tsukishima. He stood tall, his back straight, yet there was still something hesitant about him. Tsukishima held his gaze for a moment before he sighed and took off his headphones. 

"Can I help you?"

Kageyama turned his gaze away, but didn't move.  
"It's just... Now, that this situation is getting worse I thought... It would be better if you called me or even Noya-san, when you want to leave the house. Not only for work. But for everything," he reached up and scratched his neck. Tsukishima was sure that if they had better lighting, he would see him blush. He decided to ignore that thought for his own good. 

Instead he just forced a smug smirk onto his lips.  
" My, my, King. In the end I'll start to believe that you care about me," he knew he should not be an asshole. His life was in Kageyama's hands most of the time. If he decided to leave Tsukishima alone while going home in the dark, he would be an easy target. Yet still, being mean was always easier than anything else. 

Kageyama's face was red, whether from embarrassment or rage, was a secret. He stormed to the door and threw it open.  
"I'm just doing my job," he spat before running out. The door closed behind him with a loud thud. Tsukishima took a deep breath, took off his shoes and laid down onto the couch. 

Another stellar conversation. Just like always.

But at this point it was either this, or confessing that he was on the same level of emotional intelligence as a five years old. When all he could do was pick on the person he liked. He knew it was dumb. He knew it since the second year of high school. But when he realised his stupid crush on Kageyama in their second year, they were at the point where they could hardly stay in the same room without fighting. Daichi and Suga just graduated and weren't there to break up the fights and Ennoshita didn't have yet the willpower to break them up while he also had the new first years and Nishinoya and Tanaka to look after. Some joked it was sexual tension since they were hormon driven teens at their finest. Tsukishima knew that it was him clawing Kageyama away so he'll never discover Tsukishima's feelings. And at this point Tsukishima was fine with that. 

This was still better than getting rejected. At least he was doing this because it was his choice. 

When Yamaguchi stepped into their apartment, he was still in his place.  
"We saw Kageyama run away. You wouldn't have anything to do with that, right?" he asked. He closed the door before he threw his keys onto the stack of books beside the door. Yamaguchi was the only one who didn't leave school when the war started. He was preparing to be a pediatric surgeon and he decided that a surgeon was needed just as much as a soldier was in these times. So he stayed in the university and spent his time operating and taking care of both the soldiers wounded and the kids he always wanted to work with.  
His biggest involvement was that he moved in with Tsukishima so the blond always had someone nearby in case of an attack. 

When Tsukishima didn't reply, he continued:  
"You know, maybe you should try to confess. You may be surprised by his answer."

"Yamaguchi." Tsukishima didn't even bother to look at him.

"Hm?"

"Shut up."


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey, Akaashi," Bokuto sat on the couch, his knees up to his chest. His hair was down, still dripping water onto the towel in his neck. He was watching something on the TV with wide eyes.

"Yes, Koutarou?" Akaashi didn't even look up from his book. It was rare that they had a calm evening like this.

"If the new thing is going to be in the middle of the woods, then do you think there will be owls around it?" Bokuto asked, his voice soft. He didn't even slur his words. Akaashi glanced at the TV screen. He wasn't paying attention earlier so he was surprised to see an owl documentary playing. He never thought that Bokuto would think about owls and military stuff at the same time.

They made a promise when they were recruited, that they would only refer to military stuff as thing. This could be a place, a weapon or Nova, all of them were things. This was so Bokuto wouldn't have a chance to run his mouth at the wrong moment. It also was safer since they never knew if someone was listening. This time, Bokuto was referring to the new base for Nova. It was not far from where Matsumoto was divided between the Rep and the Imperials. It was the best place they could find. They started building it ten days ago, and the developers were to visit the next day.  


"I'm sure there will be, if they don't disturb them too much," he closed his book, and stood up from the armchair. Bokuto didn't even take his eyes away from the screen as he hummed in reply. He only looked away when Akaashi moved in front of him to sit into his lap.

Akaashi smiled softly when Bokuto's hand went to his hips immediately.  
"We haven't been to the bird sanctuary for a while now," he murmured softly and encircled his neck with his arms. He could feel the warmth of Bokuto's big palms through his shirt and the other's silver hair caressed his forehead softly when he leaned forward.

Bokuto pouted like a child.  
"Daichi said its not safe," he murmured. Akaashi kissed the pout away.

"For now, yes. But once this all ends, we'll be free to go wherever. The bird sanctuary, the zoo... We could even invite Kuroo-san and Kenma, when we go," he ran his fingers through the soft hair on Bokuto's nape. And even though he knew he said the right thing, the bright smile Bokuto gave him never failed to make his heart skip a beat.

"AndthenKuroowouldseethecatsandIwouldseetheowls!" Bokuto spoke so fast and slurred his words so much even Akaashi had a hard time understanding him. So he just nodded and let Bokuto kiss him into oblivion.

Since they were going into the forest next day, maybe he could get away with wearing a scarf.

*************

The car stopped in front of their building at exactly nine am. It looked like a standard minibus from the outside, that a group of friends would take to a trip in the woods. They were even dressed as normal university students.

Kenma clung to Kuroo's hand for dear life as they waited for the door to open. Kuroo wasn't supposed to go with them on this journey, but Kenma refused to leave the house without him ever since the meeting almost two weeks ago. And even if Kuroo was dressed in jeans and a normal coat, Kenma knew that he had at least two guns hidden and that his coat was most likely bulletproof.  
"Are you sure you want me to go?" Kuroo asked softly, his thumb caressing Kenma's hand. He wasn't keen on going against the orders, but if Kenma felt better with him there, he wasn't going to stay home. So he just stood there and held his hand as Kenma nodded.

This time it was Hinata who opened the door.  
"Welcome on board!" he shouted with a bright smile. He was also dressed for hiking, with a little baseball cap in his orange locks, sweatpants and jumper. He looked like he was twelve for the lack of better words. Kenma murmured a soft hello and climbed into the car, pulling Kuroo with him.

"Hope you don't mind a freeloader," Kuroo grinned at them and closed the door behind himself. In the back row Nishinoya laughed back at him, while Akaashi just nodded his greeting. Tsukishima outright ignored him, while continued to look out through the window.

"Who's in the front?" Kenma asked softly and pulled out his DS from his pocket. He sat between Hinata and Kuroo, but still kept on leaning into Kuroo's side.

Even if it has been eleven days since the meeting, Kuroo still hasn't gotten Kenma to talk. And even if he was glad to just hold him and tell him soft reassurances, he knew that the longer Kenma kept things bottled up, the worse his anxiety and paranoia will get. It took him days to get Kenma to leave him alone long enough to get the groceries. He even refused to go to work unless Kuroo was in the building.

"Daichi-san and Aone. Daichi-san said that if he had to drive three hours with us next to him, he will probably kill himself and us," Hinata laughed softly.

"Which is extremely RUDE by the way," Nishinoya shouted loud enough for Daichi to hear in the front through the tainted glass. The car swayed as a response before it came into the lane.

"What the hell?" Tsukishima looked up, but when he saw Kuroo and Noya smiling back at him as a response, he quickly turned away. Kuroo snickered and turned back to watch Kenma play, fort the rest of the way.

When they arrived at the meeting point, on the first look, only two people were there. One of them was the prime minister, dressed as a normal hiker. He even had a walking stick in his hand. The man, who towered next to him was much younger, but Kuroo had a feeling he was even more armed than he was. Their jackets were also probably bulletproof, like his.  
"Good afternoon, gentlemen," the prime minister looked at them with a small smile on his face. He seemed careless, if he was afraid of being on the border with the Rep, he wasn't showing it. He raised his eyebrow when his gaze landed on Kuroo. "New security measures?"

"Kuroo is one of our main guards. He's usually the personal responder of Kozume-san" Kenma once again clung to Kuroo's arm, like he was afraid the man was going to take him away. "He's here to make sure we have enough people to protect you and the developers in any situation." Kuroo was absolutely impressed with how calmly Daichi lied to the prime minister. He hoped it wasn't showing on his face too much.

"Very well, then. Shall we go?" he didn't even wait for their answer before he turned around and started walking.

It took them almost an hour of hiking to get to the base. The prime minister seemed kind of tired but in good spirit, while Hinata and Nishinoya were almost cheerful. The fresh air only seemed to energize them even further. Unlike Kenma, whom Aone and Kuroo literally needed to drag with them after fifteen minutes. It was ridiculous how out of shape he was.

But they finally saw the base. From afar, it only looked like a big rock, but the closer they went, the more prominent the door got. The prime minister's guard stepped forward and started knocking away on the door. Kuroo used this time to look around. If he really gave all his attention to details, he could spot some places that probably hid cameras, and he has seen some leaves moving against the wind. The hidden guards. With how close they were to the Reps, he expected the place to be at least bulletproof, or to be able to withstand an atomic bomb. He pulled Kenma closer to himself and tapped his coat where he knew his gun was.

His eyes caught Daichi's for a moment, and knew that the guy was thinking the same thing. Kenma, Akaashi and Tsukishima needed to install Nova as fast as possible, but until then, they were going to spend most of their time there. And Kuroo was going to be damned than to leave them in an unsafe environment.

The door opened up and they were ushered inside. The guard went first, then the prime minister. Daichi followed them close behind and after a moment slightly nodded his head that it was okay to follow. First Nishinoya, Akaashi, Hinata, Tsukishima with Kuroo and Kenma right behind them.  
Aone was last in the line. The door closed behind them with a soft thud, and Kuroo could hear it locking up in multiple places. The lights were few and far from each other, only lighting up the place enough so they won't fall. Kuroo reached behind and felt Kenma's small hand immediately taking his.

"We installed a retina-scan, so later today we'll take all of yours," the guard's voice was really soft, barely loud enough for all of them to hear. There was a beep as the computer took his scan, and then the door in front slid to side. This room was much brighter.

"Geez," Hinata murmured when they stepped in. It was like some kind of game that was meant to give you anxiety. Kuroo wasn't even surprised that Kenma stepped both closer to him and forward.

There stood four doors, leading into different directions. They looked the same. Once the door closed behind them, the prime minister's guard turned towards them.  
"As you can see, we took every safety measure possible. All of these doors require codes to open," he pointed at the terminal beside each door. "We will give them to you, but we'll take it back before you leave this place. So please memorize it."

The prime minister nodded in approval.  
"Excellent. Where do these doors lead?"

The guard pointed at the first door to his right.  
"This one is the military personnel's changing room. As people are ordered to come here in normal clothes to keep up the secrecy, this is where we keep the weapons and everything they need in order to be able to fulfil their job. This one next to it is the lavatory. There's a shower, a toilet inside as well as all the cleaning supplies. " he turned around to motion to the next door. "This leads deeper into the ground into a safety room. This was installed in case of a nuclear attack, so it also has supplies that would last two weeks for forty people. And this last door leads to the computer room." he hit in 11 numbers in total before the door slid to the side. Kenma let go of Kuroo's hand and almost ran inside. If Daichi didn't stop him, he would have probably pushed the prime minister aside. This place was Kenma's dream place type B. His favourite place was the lab, because it had a lavatory, a small kitchen and so many computer devices in it. It was also well lit, so it had a much homier feel than this place.

Still, this base would be close second to that.

Kenma went in right after the prime minister with Hinata behind him.  
The guard looked at them.  
"I don't think this place needs any explanation."

The prime minister gave them a warm smile.  
"Do your magic," he said. And everything set into motion. Kenma took his place behind the main computer and pulled his legs up to his chest. Akaashi and Tsukishima started unpacking the stuff Kei brought in a bag and started putting it together. Akaashi threw his coat onto a small chair on the side, but Kenma didn't even bother with that. Daichi started conversing with the prime minister so Kuroo felt it was safe to leave his place. He helped Kenma's coat off so the other wouldn't even have to look away from the screen. And then he just stood beside the wall. Aone stood guard outside of the door, while on the inside Nishinoya and Hinata leaned against the doorframe. They were joking around in soft voices and were completely relaxed, but Kuroo knew that Noya could pull a gun faster than anyone on their squad.

The developers were working together like a well-oiled machine. Tsukishima and Akaashi were putting together the Nova's box with the speed of light while Kenma was already writing the program to connect it and to make it spread. They have done this already, they knew that the faster they got this done the faster they could leave. So they came prepared.

"While we're here, would you mind answering a few question?" the prime minister asked.

"Of course not, sir. How can we help?" Akaashi looked up from his work.

"So I have one main question which is what kind of requirement we have to make up for the people to work here? Since you three can't be here, we need other people who can use Nova out to the best of its abilities."

"Well, first of all, you need IT people. Preferably the best of the best." Much to everyone 's surprise, it was Kenma who spoke up. Everyone thought he was lost in his own world. "Because even if Nova gives them the information on a silver platter, they will need to know how to use that information."

He was speaking really informally, but he didn't see the warning glances the others sent him. The prime minister didn't comment on it, just asked:  
"Please, elaborate."

Kenma stopped typing for a moment but kept his gaze trained on the typing board. Then he continued.  
"Let's say you need to move a camera's seeing range a few meters or you need to shut off the alarms on a specific part of their defense. Nova can get you into the system, but after that, the person will need to do everything themselves. They need to move the camera's range where they need it to be and they need to be able to select and shut off the alarms themselves. Also, they need to understand how Nova is working, which is the harder task in this job. Because if they don't know the orders everything is doomed right before it even starts."

"Ah, I understand. So if I need you to..." Whatever the man wanted to ask will never be known as the whole bunker shook as an explosion went of overhead. There was no loud alarm blaring on the base, but all the lights turned off with only a red light going off. It kept going off and on as a warning. 

" Sir, come this way!" Daichi shouted before he grabbed the prime minister and dragged him outside. Hinata and Nishinoya pulled Akaashi and Tsukishima with them so they sat right beside the doorframe. Aone shut the door from the outside.

Kenma sat frozen is his place as another explosion went off outside. His golden eyes were blown wide and he even stopped breathing. Kuroo pulled out a gun before pushed him under the table be force and climbed in with him. He positioned themselves until they were both fully covered by the table. It was lucky that the desk was completely covering them from the door. He pulled Kenma to his chest and kept his hand on the blond's head.

Complete silence fell on the room. Explosion after explosion went off outside, but the tremors seemed to get smaller every time. The red light stopped, but it didn't mean that it was over.

Kuroo could feel Kenma's breath getting shallower by his neck as his panic started to rise.  
He quickly pressed a kiss to his cheek and leaned into his ear.  
"It's okay, kitten. Breath with me. It's gonna be fine. Just breath," he whispered only loud enough for Kenma to hear. The way Kenma's breath hitched he knew the other was having troubles following his order. "I'll get you out of here. I'll keep you safe and take you home. We're not going to die here, baby, I swear," the nicknames slipped out without even thinking. If something seriously were to go wrong, the last thing they needed was Kenma having a panic attack in the middle of it.

And then came the knocks. It was hurried and loud. Aone wouldn't knock, Kuroo knew that. And even if he did, he would knock in a specific rhythm they used back in the lab. So it wasn't him. It wasn't Daichi. And it wasn't the guards of this base. It was someone else.

The sound of Nishinoya and Hinata cocking their guns sent chills down Kuroo's spine. They have never shot at anything living. It was always dummies or at the shooting range. But this was real. Their bullets were real and they were most likely to take a human life.

"Kenma, I promise I'll get you and everyone else here to safety. Everything is going to be alright, I can guarantee that," he kept talking right into Kenma's ear, hoping to muffle the sound of he himself cocking his own gun.


	7. Chapter 7

When they were kids, they often hid under tables when there was an earthquake. They were never in danger, but they did it anyway. And Kuroo would always put his hands on Kenma's head saying that if anything fell, he would make sure it wouldn't hit Kenma. It was stupid and he just wanted to play the hero since he was a few months older, Kenma would always tell him. But later on, when they had troubles fitting under the tables together, Kenma missed those moments. It was stupid and unnecessary, but these little moments showed how much Kuroo really cared.

He was basically sitting in Kuroo's lap, and if he were to move just one inch, he would bump into the table and give away their place. But he could feel Kuroo's free hand in his hair as he held him to his chest. Kenma wondered, if the other was also reminded of their old adventures under the tables or if it was just him.

He squeezed his eyes shut so his tears wouldn't fall as pressed his face into Kuroo's shoulders. He never asked for any of this. He never wanted to put his friends in danger. All he wanted was to find his DS back in the day. And now here they were; guns loaded, waiting for someone to step in as they were bombed from the outside. Kenma took a deep breath as Kuroo told him too, and tried to concentrate on his best friend. His body was warm under Kenma's hands with only his black longsleeves between them. Kuroo's coat was still on the chair. Kenma could feel his chest rise and fall with every breath and how his heart was beating. It wasn't fast like Kenma's, he was calm and collected. He wasn't even trembling. Kenma didn't dare to turn his head and look, but he was sure that the hand Kuroo held his gun in was steady.

Kenma didn't know how long they sat there. It could be seconds, minutes or hours, he truly couldn't even guess. But it seemed like an eternity before another knock came. This time in the specific rhythm they used in the lab. And then the door slid to the side.

"It's over," Aone's deep voice was like a heavenly symphony to Kenma's ears. Everyone in the room let out a relieved sigh as Kuroo, Nishinoya and Hinata let down the guns.

"Holy fuck," was all Nishinoya said. Kenma couldn't agree more. But he didn't move as Kuroo was now clutching him with both arms, squeezing him to death. He didn't want to move. He squeezed back.

"What the hell happened?" Akaashi, being the voice of reason, asked. The were more steps outside and orders being given out, so eventually Kuroo let Kenma go and ushered him out. But he kept a hand on his back just in case. They were right on time to see Daichi step in with a hand on his head-set.

"They bombed the entirety of Matsumoto. They are some fires because of that but they are quickly being put out. It was pepper gas, so mostly it's the gas that's causing the problems. It shouldn't take more than an hour to clear away here, and once the fires are contained, we'll have the clearance to leave immediately," he said.

"Oh god, this is awful," Hinata moaned as he clutched at his stomach. "Excuse me, I have to use the bathroom," he ran out, one hand looking for the paper the guard gave them with the codes.

"Can I make a phone call?" Akaashi turned to Sawamura, but the soldier shook his head.

"Not yet. They probably don't know the exact location of this base, that's why they bombed the entire prefecture. We don't want to risk they catching the phone signals. You can do it right after we leave the prefecture," he patted Akaashi's shoulder softly to console him before he turned to the others. "I think it will be another two to three hours before we can leave, so try not to go crazy. We're safe here, so there's nothing you need to worry about in this second," he tried to say it in a positive tone, but it didn't seem to cheer anyone up.

Tsukishima sighed and moved back to the box they were putting together before the explosions went off.  
"I think we should put Nova together so we have something to do, then get the hell out of here. That way everyone wins," he said and started plugging in the cables.

"You're right," Akaashi was soon next to him, setting up the system. And after a few seconds of silence, Kenma also sat back into his chair.

**************

Four hours later, they left the prefecture. Three hours stuck in the base and one hour of driving in complete silence, they crossed the prefecture border. Akaashi was already turning on his phone and calling Bokuto back, while Nishinoya just shot a text to Asahi.

"You know what I don't understand?" Hinata asked absentmindedly as he looked out the window. He wasn't that cheerful anymore like in the beginning of their journey.

"A lot of things. Want me to list them? Might take a while, " Tsukishima didn't even bother to look up, so he missed the dirty look Hinata sent him. Hinata leaned forward from where he was sitting between Akaashi and Tsukishima.

"Why does the Rep want this war? It's not like the Emperor had much say in politics. So what is this all about?" he kept looking at the others with helpless eyes. But Akaashi was still softly whispering into his phone, Tsukishima was ignoring him and Nishinoya was just as clueless as he was. Kuroo turned to the side so he could look at him. Kenma was laying on the seat between him and Nishinoya and had his head in Kuroo's lap so he tried to move as little as possible.

"It's not exactly the government type they have a problem with, but who are in that government. The Rep wants an entirely new regime set up, that only entertains the beliefs they have," he explained softly, while continuing to ran his fingers through Kenma's hair. The blond hummed softly in agreement but continued to play on his DS.

"Then why kill the imperial family?" Nishinoya looked up from his phone.

"Because its symbolic. They don't have political power anymore, but they are a symbol of the past. It's like in England. The Queen doesn't have much power, but her person itself means something to the people. They work for her, they fight for her and they take comfort in her existence no matter how old she is and that she wouldn't be able to fight. It's the same here, " he leaned his head against the headrest. Hinata's mouth formed a perfect 'O' as he finally understood.

"But it's still nonsense that they are ready to bomb half of the prefecture for this," Noya shook his head as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"There had been wars for much less than this," Daichi's voice came through the window, signalling that he had been listening the whole time. His voice sounded tired, but still alert. It caused Tsukishima to look up.

"Daichi-san," he called out.

"Yes?"

"Who knocked on the door?" he asked. He had been thinking about this since the alarm ended.

"What knocking?"

"Somebody knocked on the door while the explosions went off. Most of us were in the room, and Aone uses our rhythm. And it probably wasn't one of the guards since they know the codes," Nishinoya said. His gaze met Kuroo's for a moment and he could see that the guy had the same suspicions.

"Aone was with me, guarding the prime minister," Daichi said. His voice sounded even more serious than before. "And we were the first ones to leave the safety room and there was no one in there," he said.

"What about the guards?" Tsukishima asked.

"Either incapacitated because of the gas or taking steps to put out the fires the bombings caused. Are you sure it was knocking? The explosions caused a lot of sounds, it may have been that."

"No, it was very distinctive. We were right beside the door, it was clear as day," Nishinoya answered.

"But they wouldn't be able to leave if they were inside. The gas clears out relatively fast, but the fires definitely would stop someone," Daichi was right. Still, it was no explanation.

"Fireproof hazmat suit." Kenma said so softly even Kuroo barely caught it. But once he realised what Kenma said, he quickly repeated it louder so the others would hear it as well.   
"Possible, but unlikely. I don't know guys, this is all I can tell you since we're in the middle of the highway. I promise I'll look into it once we're back," he said and it was clear that for his part, the conversation was over.

Tsukishima frowned behind his hand. He wasn't satisfied with this explanation. He was there right beside Nishinoya. He could literally feel the tremors the knocks sent through the door. It wasn't because of the explosions. Someone was in there when he wasn't supposed to be. There were no cameras, because the recordings could be used against them. But there must have been someway to monitor who had been in the base. He just need to find it. 

And by the time they arrived back in the base, he was fairly certain he had found it. 

The car barely stopped when the door was thrown open from the outside.   
"Keiji!" Bokuto's hair seemed to be in a dejected mode as he literally climbed onto Nishinoya to get to Akaashi.   
"Hey!"   
"Koutarou, please, wait outside!"   
"Idiot, what the fuck are you doing?" Kuroo shouted as he leaned over Kenma and pushed Bokuto out of the car. 

It was like they were coming from a school trip as there were people waiting outside for most of them. Suga was already opening his arms for Daichi by the time the man stepped out. Bokuto was already kissing and holding Akaashi by the time Keiji climbed out of the vehicle. Asahi's face was swollen from crying yet he still had big, fat tears rolling down his cheeks when he saw Nishinoya coming towards him. Daichi alerted them when the bombing started. They were more than just stressed out. 

Tsukishima didn't wait to watch the heartfelt reunions. He almost died. Who knows what would have happened if they opened that door. He needed to figure out who the hell was behind that door. 

Futakuchi and Yamamoto gave him weird looks when he showed up in the vault, but the didn't stop him. They just continued to stand at attention. 

Tsukishima turned on the lights in the lab. It was extremely quiet. Usually, he would hear Kenma typing or Akaashi talking to the first responder on a hushed tone. He has never been in the vault alone until that day. He turned on his computer and took off his coat. Nova automaticly loaded in their computers, they didn't even need to look for it at that point. And now that they set up Nova in Matsumoto, the two automatically connected.   
Tsukishima started typing. 

Daichi said that there was no one inside when they came out of the safety room and that all of the guards were either incapacitated or occupied with fires. So there was no one to let a person in or out. But somehow they still needed to get through the retina scan.   
Tsukishima had a fleeting suspicion that the base had the same database of retina scans as the entire army. Since theirs were only collected before leaving that would mean that this person scan was already in the database. So it was a military personnel who ws high enough in the hierarchy to know about the new base but wasn't included in the planning or execution, because he didn't know the codes. It was also most likely that he only discovered the place of the base after he gave the intel to the Rep, because they wouldn't need to bomb an entire prefecture if they knew the exact location. Because even if it was a war, it was nobody's interest to endanger the civil population aimlessly. At least, Tsukishima hoped that was the case. 

And nothing could get through these scans without leaving the information behind. It may get erased, but that did not matter. Not to Nova. Whoever was behind this, clearly didn't believe in the program. 

He was already pulling up the scan's history when the vault's door opened again. Kageyama stepped inside gracefully then turned to locked the door after himself.   
Tsukishima's eyebrows shot up.   
"What are you doing here?" he asked, straightening in his seat. 

Kageyama shrugged.   
"You left without a first responder. So I came. Also, Suga-san says he's going to gut you if you do this again," he said and walked to the desk. He leaned onto it, without touching anything on the desk. 

"I don't have time for Daichi-san to dismiss the thing again," Tsukishima replied and turned back to his screen. He started scrolling through the datas. If he was right, the attack started around two pm and it lasted about half an hour. 

"There's probably a reason for that. Maybe he just didn't want anyone to panic," Kageyama tried reasoning. Normally, Tsukishima would joke that he shouldn't think too hard so he won't hurt himself, but right now, he wasn't in the mood for that. 

"This is not the point where he should keep secrets from us!" he slammed his hand onto the desk. "Someone was in the base in the middle of a fucking attack. Someone, who definitely shouldn't be there! And if they broke in once, they can do it again!" he said. He saw how Kageyama tried to speak again, but he cut him off before he could even begin. Tsukishima stood up and towered over Kageyama. Kageyama was over 185 centimeters, but Tsukishima was still a good ten centimetres taller than him.  
"You don't get it, King. Who knows, what could have happened if we opened that door? We could have died! And all I could think about were those stupid, trivial things I could have done in my life but didn't." Kageyama's wide blue eyes seemed even bigger the way he looked up at Tsukishima. Kei hated it. Kageyama looked to stupidly innocent and beautiful, Tsukishima felt his heart skip a beat. 

"Never thought you would have regrets," Kageyama muttered under his nose. Tsukishima snorted. 

"Well, I do. So I'm taking every chance starting now," he said and grabbed Kageyama's face between his hands before he leaned down to kiss him. Kageyama's face was soft in his hands, his lips slightly chapped, but Tsukishima felt like all the stress left him. And when Kageyama took a hold on his clothes to pull him closer and kissed him back, Tsukishima couldn't help but smile into the kiss. 

He wasn't going to die with regrets anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, leave a comment after yourself! Any critique is welcomed!   
Thank you for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

Kenma didn't even leave the bed. Once he woke up, he went to the bathroom, took his PSP off the charger and then climbed back into the bed wrapped himself up in Kuroo's blankets. Not that Kuroo minded much. They called their parents and then he left to cook themselves breakfast. And then he just joined Kenma.

For a moment, Kuroo even let himself imagine what it would be like if there was peace and him and Kenma would be officially dating. They would still go to university, and on the weekends, they could just stay in bed all day, curled up around each other like right now, reading a book or just playing a game. It would be quiet and peaceful and oh so idyllic. They wouldn't have to worry about dying every time they stepped out of the comfort of their apartment.

But just like the war started, their little bubble of peace also had to burst. It was barely after two pm when Kenma's phone started ringing. It was the prime minister. Kenma let out a long sigh before he turned onto his side and threw his leg over Kuroo's. He accepted the call.  
"Yes, sir? How may I help?"

"Kozume-kun, I hope this is a good time to talk," the man asked. Kenma gave Kuroo a look; they knew that the man didn't care. But then he just rolled his eyes and said:

"Of course, sir."

"Excellent! Since yesterday, despite the scary interruption, you managed to set up the Nova in Matsumoto, I would immediately like to use it, hopefully with success," he said.

"I'm not currently in the lab, sir. I don't have access to Nova right now," Kenma answered, and for a moment, he seemed anxious. Yesterday, everyone agreed that they were going to take this day off, but they haven't actually ran this with the prime minister. He was their boss at the end of day.

"That's more than alright, Kozume-kun. After yesterday, I didn't expect you. However, I still want you to look into those things as soon as you can. I'll send the list to Captain Sawamura. All of them are of utmost importance and shall be handled with the usual high secrecy, am I clear, Kozume-kun? " the prime minister's voice was still cheerful, but there was an underlying threat that Kenma just couldn't ignore.

"Yes, sir."

"Good," then as if nothing happened, he continued on with his usuall careless tone. "Now, rest while you can. Have a nice day," and without waiting for an answer, he hung up. Kenma threw his phone behind him before he met Kuroo's eyes.

"I need to go to work," he said and would have stood up if Kuroo didn't squeeze him closer to his body.

"No, you don't. He said to rest. You'll go tomorrow," he said. Kenma immediately went limp in his arms.

"You win," he said. It was clear that he only wanted Kuroo to say it, so he wouldn't seem like such a lazy ass as he actually was. Kuroo chuckled and pressed a kiss into Kenma's hair. It became a habit of his at this point.

"Kuro."

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"You already did," Kuroo snorted, not even lifting his head up. Kenma's breathing was even, and his heart was beating in its normal rhythm, so Kuroo wasn't worried. He closed his eyes and just let himself relax into Kenma's embrace and the warmth of the bed.

"Kuro, do you love me?" Kenma didn't even lift his head from Kuroo's shoulder. He asked this the same way he would ask what was for the dinner. Kuroo's heart however skipped a beat and his eyes flew open. This wasn't what he saw coming. He tried to think of something to say, but all he could think of was 'Oh shit oh shit oh shit'.

He needed to play it cool.  
"Of course, I do. We wouldn't lay here if I didn't," he said, hoping Kenma couldn't feel how his heart was about to burst out from his ribcage.

"No. I mean romantically," Kenma still didn't move.

"Why are you asking this?" Kuroo didn't try to push him away.

"Because if you don't love me like that, please, stop giving me kisses," he said. Kuroo's breath hitched, but before he could get anything out, Kenma continued. "Yesterday, when you kept calling me baby and kitten under the table while giving me kisses, I thought that maybe you loved me back. But... If you don't, then please, quit it. I don't think I can handle you going after someone else suddenly if you continued like this."

"Kenma... Are you serious?" Now his heart wasn't only beating from the nerves.

"Kuro, I loved you since high school, but at this point, I'm ready to loose you if it means that you're going to be safe," Kenma said, his tone now so soft Kuroo had a hard time catching it. So he pushed Kenma back just enough to look him in the eyes. He wasn't crying, not yet. But there was such worry in his eyes that Kuroo felt like throwing up. Kenma was serious. Kuroo blinked and took a deep breath. 

"Kenma, you're either shitting me right now or you are even more fucking dense than I thought. Why do you think I keep on kissing you? Why do you think I called you baby and kitten? And furthermore why do you think I keep risking my life just make sure you're safe?"he ran his fingers through Kenma's hair and pulled his head back gently so Kenma was certainly looking at him. 

"Because we're..." Kuroo cut him off before Kenma even had a chance to finish it. 

"If you say because we're childhood friends, I swear to god I'm going to kill you," he rolled them over so Kenma was on his back with Kuroo towering over him. He looked into those golden eyes he knew better than his own hand as he said: "Kenma, you're the most important person in my life. I love you, I always had and always will. So I won't stop calling you baby, and I won't stop getting your hopes up. And the only thing you can do about it is kiss me back, because I love giving you kisses, " he said. 

"But you always kept on dating girls..." Kenma answered softly, but his small hands came up to clutch Kuroo's shirt. 

"What should've I done? Tell everyone I rejected the most popular girl in school because I'm pining after my best friend. I never knew you loved me. You never told me," he shook his head gently. He truly never suspected anything. So he dated whoever wanted him and that was it. 

A soft bluch crept up on Kenma's face as he turned his eyes away.   
"I thought it was better if I didn't say anything, so I can keep you close and you wouldn't leave," he whispered softly. Kuroo smiled and leaned their foreheads together. He could feel Kenma's breath on his face, he could feel his heart breathing and his hands on his body. 

"And I'm not going to leave you, no matter what. Not now, not ever," he said seriously. Then cheerfully added: "And now I'm going to kiss you." 

"Idiot." Yet all Kenma did was pull him closer and hug him tighter as Kuroo pressed their lips together.

***********

Akaashi often wondered if his work time was worth it when he saw Kenma and Tsukishima entering at two pm. He has already been running Nova for six hours having woken up by six just to be in time and make sure Bokuto was in time for the guard change. But as he saw how Tsukishima calmly sipped his tea or how Kenma was so calm despite everything, he seriously thought about changing his schedule.

But then he always realised that a tired Bokuto was even worse than the woke-up-at-six Bokuto, so at the end of the day, he opted against it.

"The prime minister sent us a list of things, I already started on... Kenma, is that a hickey on your neck?" Akaashi asked. He wasn't one for indecent question like this. He didn't like to pry into other people's business. But the hickey on the boy's neck was so big even he couldn't leave it alone.

Kenma's hand flew to his neck to cover it up, his face red like his old volleyball jersey. He muttered a barely audible no, which caused Tsukishima to snicker.  
"I'm sure you just fell onto your neck. Definitely not Kuroo-san being a territorial ass. Absolutely not," he said. If it was possible, Kenma got even redder before he buried his face in his hands.

"Tsukishima, don't think I haven't seen how you pushed Kageyama onto your desk and made out for like an hour two days ago, " Akaashi commented while turning back to his computer screen. Kenma gave Tsukishima a questioning look while the youngest just cleared his throat.

"So, what do we need to do?" he asked. Akaashi suppressed his grin; even Tsukishima had the ability to be embarrassed.

"There are a few things and most of them are urgent," he said. Kenma nodded along. "First he wanted to know where the bombing came from, I already got that done. They were all fired from the Komatsu Air Base. It also appears to be their main military site as far as weaponry go," he said.

"So it's still not the headquarters," Tsukishima concluded. Akaashi nodded.

"If I'm right, and I followed the right line or calls and emails, their main headquarter is in the Nagano City Hall. However I want you to double check this, Kenma," he looked up at the boy who nodded softly. He leaned against Akaashi's chair so he could take a look at the paper in his hands.

"Alright. What else?"

"He wants to know the exact locations of every military sites and every other quarters they may use or have built lately, so they can have a full list of these. This is the easiest, so I thought I'd do this next," he looked at Kenma, waiting for approval. The boy nodded softly.

"Then he wants as much information about their plans as possible. I tried to take a look at those earlier but everything is heavily coded and the Nova didn't recognise the code. So I would like to leave that to you, Kenma." Kenma hummed softly, but that was enough for Akaashi.

"And last, but not least, it seems that Daichi-san told him about the knocking in the base and he wants to know what we can find about that," he said and put the paper down.

"It was Ueda-san," Tsukishima answered quickly. He leaned back in his chair and slightly swayed side to side with it. He was playing with a pen between his fingers.

"From the Intelligence?" Akaashi's eyebrows shot up.

"How do you know that already?" Kenma's question was the same what went around Akaashi's head.

Tsukishima smirked.  
"I didn't only make out with Kageyama while I was in here," he said with a satisfied glint in his eyes. "And if you think about it, he fits in just right. He's in the military, he can get his hands on a hazmat suit any time he wants it, however he's not on this case, so he doesn't have the codes they would need to use. His retina was the only one scanned in that half hour the bombing went on, which should be a damning evidence if I do say so myself." Tsukishima was so grossly satisfied with himself it irritated Akaashi to no end, but he had to admit, it was well-deserved.

But Kenma was no stranger to self-obsessed assholes.  
"Still not enough for us to frame an accomplished military personnel," he said, without even looking up from the paper. "Keep on looking into him. As soon as we have actual proof that he was there for the wrong reasons and not just because of army-related information relay, then we may bring it up to Daichi-san. He'll tell us what to do with it," he said, and then pushed himself off Akaashi's seat and walked to his own desk. "Then you're doing this Tsukishima, okay? Akaashi, you look up the bases and I'll start breaking apart their computers."

After ten minutes Inuoka joined them in the room after his break ended, but he just stood by the door, watching them work endlessly. Sometimes one of them would call someone over to check a data, but other than that nobody spoke.

Tsukishima kept on pulling information to the computer to a hologram, creating a whole wall with what he found suspicious about Ueda. Kenma kept on typing no matter what happened, but Akaashi saw how he sometimes frowned, which meant that he wasn't doing as well as he wanted to. Akaashi put up a holographic image of the Japanese map so he could zoom in and out however he wanted to. He put a red dot on every exact location he could find.

They didn't even notice the time flying by until the usual knock went off eight. All three of them were so engrossed in their work the knocking sent shivers down their spine from the shock.

Inuoka waited for Akaashi to get his stuff and say his goodbye before he opened up the vault. Oikawa and Kindaichi already took their places next to the door, so Nobuyuki and Konoha were only waiting for him. They escorted him to the dressing room and then outside where Bokuto was already waiting for him.

"Akaasssssh!" he shouted when Akaashi slowly walked to him. Konoha waved at them before walking back into the building.

"Koutarou, don't shout," he chided him softly, but smiled. Bokuto was like a dog, always happy to see their human, loving them unconditionally no matter what. Akaashi truly never felt better about himself than when he was with him.

"Akaaaaaaaashi, guess what!" Bokuto was bouncing in his place, with both his hands hid behind his back. Normally, he would already have his arms around his boyfriend.

Akaashi lifted an eyebrow.  
"What?" he pursed his lips to control his smile.

"There's a message for you!" he stepped closer but still kept his hands behind himself.

"Really, from who?"

Bokuto was only waiting for this opportunity.  
"From Hoot Hoot!" and he quickly took his arms from behind and with his left he lifted something soft to Akaashi's ear. He masked his voice and daid: "Keiji, I love you very much!" he said and then made the soft plush kiss Akaashi's cheek before holding it out for him.

"What is this?" Akaashi now didn't even tried to hide his smile. He gently took the owl from Bokuto's hands. It was barely bigger than his two hands together, the brown plush soft to the touch. Its eyes were almost identical to Bokuto's own.

"Gift. You seemed sad since the trip, and owls make me happy so I got you an owl," Bokuto straightened up with a proud smile. Akaashi felt like his heart was going to burst. Having known Bokuto for over six years and having dated him for almost three of that, he always thought he couldn't love him any more than he already had. Yet Bokuto always proved him wrong.

"I love it," he whispered and stepped forward to hug Bokuto close. He leaned his head against Bokuto's wide chest and whispered. "And I love you. More than anything."

He felt Bokuto's strong arms hold him close and even if they were in the open, he felt safer than with half the army protecting him. Bokuto pressed a kiss onto his head.  
"I love you too," then he pushed Akaashi away just enough to grin at him. "Let's go home!"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please, leave a comment after yourself!! ! (I feed off comments, they are my life-force) 
> 
> Follow me on Twitter: [Rinrin2442](https://twitter.com/RinRin2442)


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